TUNDE THOMAS
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been described as a rabble-rouser, who takes special delight in attacking and rubbishing any serving Nigerian leader who refused to succumb to his attempt to manipulate or turn such leader into a pawn.
Making this assertion at the weekend, Lagos State Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Henry Ajomale, urged Nigerians to be wary of Obasanjo’s antics.
Ajomale, who spoke against the backdrop of the recent open letter by Obasanjo to President Buhari, and his formation of Coalition Movement for Nigeria accused Obasanjo of being a hypocrite.
“Nigerians should not take Obasanjo serious. He is a hypocrite, who loves playing to the gallery. As a former president, he had unfettered access to President Muhammadu Buhari. Obasanjo is not an ordinary Nigerian, and Buhari can never ignore him. Obasanjo could have discussed all those issues raised in his letter in privacy with Buhari but out of mischief, he chose to go public with the letter. Not only that, “Obasanjo has also come up with his pet project called Coalition Movement of Nigeria. But let me say this categorically, Obasanjo, and his coalition movement are doomed to fail. Nigerians are not fools. Obasanjo and his movement can never be a threat to APC,’’ Ajomale declared.
Declaring that President Muhammadu Buhari led -APC administration is determined to continue with its laudable programmes, aimed at facilitating rapid socio- economic development of the country, the APC chieftain accused Obasanjo of trying to realize his botched third term bid through the formation of Coalition Movement for Nigeria.
…Denies claim against Banire
Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC), Chairman, Chief Henry Ajomale has denied reports credited to him by some national dailies that the party’s National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire procured judgment of court by fraud in respect of APC primaries.
Recall that Banire, had instituted a N500 million libel action against Ajomale, following a report in a national daily of July 8,2017, where Ajomale reportedly made the allegation.
In his statement of defence before the court, the APC bosss denied issuing the press statement published by two national dailies, where he reportedly made the allegation.
Paragraph 5 of Ajomale’s Statement of Defence dated January 25, 2018 reads: “That because of the sensitivity of his position as the chairman of APC in Lagos State, the defendant does not issue any press statement on any issue whatsoever whether personal or official hence, defendant did not and couldn’t have issued the press statement capable of being reported or published in the ThisDay newspaper July 8, 2017 as falsely alleged by the claimant.”
Meanwhile, Banire has filed an application to join the publishers of This Day, as a party in the action and had already served a pre-action protocol on the publishers of the Nation Newspapers also.