Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo has stated that he has no preferred candidate among those contesting the 2023 presidential election.
Obasanjo, stated this in Minna on Sunday when he visited former Heads of State, Generals Abdulsalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
Obasanjo arrived in Minna, the Niger State capital, at midday and spent about an hour in Abdulsalami’s house before going to the hilltop residence of Babangida.
The elder statesman said he only had a national agenda, not a preferred candidate.
“I don’t have a special candidate, I have a national agenda.”
The former President also said he was in Minna to visit the former Head of State who had been indisposed.
“I came to see my brother who has been a little indisposed. I had plans to visit him when he was still in London, but the day I arrived in London was the day he returned home.
“So that is why I decided to come and see him at home. He is very special so I had to come.
He also said that “if there is anyone who is indisposed, I will visit and I am still strong.”
The former president arrived at Abdulsalami’s residence around 12:30 p.m. and after greetings with members of the family entered into a closed-door meeting with his host. From Abdulsalami’s residence, Obasanjo went to Babangida’s mansion, where he also held another closed-door meeting.
He left Babangida’s residence around 2:30 p.m. for the Minna airport from where he flew to Abuja. Obasanjo had in the last couple of days met with prominent presidential candidates.
Earlier in the month, Obasanjo hosted the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu at his Abeokuta, Ogun State residence, a meeting he described as “more brotherly than political.”
Days after that, he led the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to meet Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in London. Details of the meeting were not disclosed but reports suggest that discussions were centred on next year’s poll.
