2023: Obasanjo denies endorsing South East for presidency

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has countered claims going around that he has endorsed the South East region to produce the next Nigerian president.

Obasanjo made this known in a statement released by his Media Aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, on Saturday, March 12, 2022.

This denial comes hours after a report had claimed that Obasanjo had thrown his weight behind the region for the presidency ahead of the 2023 general election.

The said report quoted the former president as saying the South-easterners can bring a lot to the table if given the opportunity to lead the country.

He allegedly remarked when he received the founder of New Nigeria Group (NNG) and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, to his country home in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Meanwhile, Akinyemi has now accused Ohabunwa of putting words in Obasanjo's mouth hence the misrepresentation in the media.

The former president also criticised the aspirant for instigating the reports in the media while insisting that he has been misquoted.

Obasanjo said, “If that was the way the presidential aspirant wanted to approach his ambition; such was a wrong way.”

He said “He came here and the former President received him as a gentleman and in the spirit of his 85th birthday celebrations only for him to go and put words into his mouth. Baba is not that sort of man and if that is the way he wants to fulfil his ambition that is a wrong way.”

The former president has been busy lately receiving 2023 presidential aspirants at his home in Abeokuta.

While some of them continue to claim that they have the former president's backing, Obasanjo has on many occasions refused to publicly declare his support for either a candidate or a region.

He recently stated at an event dedicated to mark his 85th birthday that most of the aspirants currently running for the presidency should have been in jail if the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had been given the necessary backing to do its job.