Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigerians to strive and ensure that the forthcoming general elections hold at all costs.
He said this on Wednesday when he received the national leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), at Abeokuta, that the attention of the global community is focused on the elections scheduled to hold on February 25 and March 11 respectively.
Obasanjo who went into a closed-door meeting with the National Chairman of the party, Ralph Nwosu and other members of the party Board of Trustees (BOT), said that countries on the West Coast of Africa are concerned with what would be the outcome of the elections.
“As you rightly said, we are in a critical period in Nigeria. In less than 3 weeks, we will be going to the pool to elect our leaders that will pilot the affairs of this country for the next four years from may and I hope nothing intervenes.
“I have been in Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire from the beginning of the week and from there, they are concerned about what happens in Nigeria as every Nigerian know. Before I left Abidjan, President Alassane Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire was telling me about a position that Cote d’Ivoire is fighting for and he told me that “we are putting it on hold until after Nigeria’s elections.
“So, even for them, Nigeria’s elections are of utmost importance.
“My belief is that for us, who are directly involved we cannot take it any less critical. Therefore, I understand why you are here.
“Your party is one of the most important political parties in this country today and it doesn’t matter how. Therefore, I understand why you are here.
“You are also here as a family; we are all in Nigeria, we are a family and therefore, when we gather together, we can always discuss as members of the same Nigeria family. But what is of concern to Nigeria and on that note, we will now go on and talk as a member of the Nigerian families.”
In his remarks, the BoT chairman, Mani Ibrahim, in a chat with journalists, said the party’s leadership was at Obasanjo’s residence for counsel and guidance.
He explained that the move became necessary because the party had no compass to navigate its way through.
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