Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC), has chided former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for alleging that the ruling party is colluding with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the forthcoming general elections, maintaining that he is being hunted by his past misdeeds.
APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, who reacted to Obasanjo’s claim, said he should hide his head in shame, stressing that he should be prepared to realise that he is not God after the February 16 presidential election.
His words: “When you are adept at a particular thing, that is, what you know how to do well. For eight years of President Obasanjo, all the elections he held and government policies were determined by whatever mood he found himself. All the institutions of government were brought under his wings and what he did for those eight years are what is hunting him.
“He cannot imagine that it is possible for a government to allow INEC the statutory independence that it has now. We have conducted over 93 elections since the APC came to power and you can be sure that all those elections were conducted without any interference from this government.
“In fact, if there is anything this government deserves credit, one of the major ones is the fact that institutions are allowed to fulfil their mandates without anybody interfering.
“So, we can understand where the former president Obasanjo is coming from. His past is actually hunting him and he must be imaging that perhaps the way he did it remains the same. He must look back at the books, when he was the president and see clearly that if they used the same method that he used, this is what is going to happen.
“The 2003 and 2007 elections were nothing to write home about and it happened under former President Obasanjo. We all know how the elections went and for us in the APC, votes will count. We are going to have free, fair and credible elections. We have no reason to want to rig election because our achievements will speak for us.
“Former President Obasanjo should adjust himself to the reality of the imminent defeat staring him in the face. He has carried himself about as the dispenser of our destiny and God is showing him clearly that he has just only been lucky and he has considered the favours God has done to him as coming from himself.
“It is time for him to smell the coffin. He should be ready to realise that he is not God after February 16,” he said.