Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday met with leaders of the
Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, and other political leaders in
the South West on the way forward for Nigeria, especially on the
strategy to adopt for 2019.
The meeting, which
was held behind closed-doors at the Lekki residence of the Afenifere
leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, lasted for almost two hours.
Those at
the meeting included a former governor of Ogun and the Director-General
of Atiku Campaign Organisation, Chief Otunba Gbenga Daniels; a former
governor of Ondo, Dr Olusegun Mimiko and Chief Kenny Martins.
Others included Sen. Femi Okunrounmu, Chief Oyewole Fashawe, Akin Oshuntokun and Dr Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu.
Also at the meeting were Prof. Banji Akintoye; Dr Amos Akingba, as well as Afenifere Secretary, Mr Yinka Odumakin.
Obasanjo, clad in a navy blue Agbada, however declined to speak with newsmen after the meeting.
But
the Afenifere leader, Adebanjo, told newsmen that the meeting was about
strengthening unity in Yoruba land ahead of the 2019 general elections
and beyond.
He said that there was the need for elders and
leaders in the region to cast their differences aside and stand as one
to chart a new course for the country.
“The meeting was nothing
more than the fact that Nigeria must move forward. There must be unity
to destroy mediocrity and dictatorship.
“What is important is
that we have our common goal. We are not endorsing candidates yet. We
must agree and be united first, and that is what we are trying to
achieve.
“If you are not united, you cannot achieve anything. And that primarily was the essence of the meeting,” he said.
Adebanjo
said the leaders at the meeting had fruitful discussions on the way
forward for the Yorubas and the country, describing the meeting as an
achievement.
Convener of Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare,
said the meeting was about the way forward for the country at these
critical times.
He explained that he and others met on fashioning the way forward for the country.
Bakare said that since it was a closed-door meeting, he would not provide details.
Asked
if it was not strange sitting with Obasanjo whom he had always
criticised, he said his criticisms of Obasanjo was not borne out of
animosity but how to do things right.
He added that his faulting
Obasanjo in and out of office did not mean he was his enemy but a call
for collective reasoning for the interest of the nation.
