The former President, while speaking at the second session of the Seventh Synod of the Anglican Communion, Oleh Diocese, in the Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, on Saturday, May 18, 2019, said Boko Haram and herdsmen are making effort to fulanise and Islamise Nigeria and West Africa. 

He said, “It is no longer an issue of a lack of education and employment for our youths in Nigeria which it began as, it is now West African Fulanisation, African islamisation and global organised crimes of human trafficking, money laundering, drug trafficking, gun trafficking, illegal mining and regime change.”

Reacting to the comment, former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido in a statement on Sunday, May 19, 2019, cautioned Obasanjo against transforming himself into “a religious and ethnic bigot” because of his disappointment with the Buhari-led administration.

Lamido also asked the Obasanjo to withdraw the statement.

He said, “If it were said at a non-religious venue to a non-religious audience, maybe it might have been more tolerable. Please, sir, don’t let your disappointment with sitting president turn you into a bigot.

“You must not abandon the national stage. The cracks along the various divides in our national cohesion are already turning into huge gorges.”

However, Fani-Kayode in a counter statement said it is sad and unfortunate that Lamido called out the former president because of what he said about Fulani herdsmen and their alleged Islamisation agenda.

The former minister said that Obasanjo is the only politically active southerner who understands what is going on in Nigerian politics and what lies ahead for the people.

He added that only those who support the Fulanisation and Islamisation agenda will criticise or oppose Obasanjo for the statement.

Fani-Kayode said, “I hear one or two people, like Sule Lamido, are not too happy with what OBJ said and have called him out for saying it. That is sad and unfortunate because Obasanjo has done more for the core North, Lamido’s Fulani tribe and Nigerian unity than any other former president or head of state in our history.

“He also fought in a civil war to keep the country together. For anybody from the core North to call him names for speaking the truth and baring his mind over what is unfolding in Nigeria today, it tells you how blinded by power, insensitive and callous some of these people are.

“It is only those that subscribe to the Fulanisation and Islamisation agenda that will criticise or oppose Obasanjo’s observation and describe him as a ‘bigot’ for making them.”

This is not the first time, the former president's view on Nigeria would stir controversy. You'll recall that in January, Obasanjo in a statement he issued to newsmen on Sunday, January 20, 2019, said Nigerians deserve more than Buhari can offer.

According to him, Nigeria needs a man that is physically fit, mentally sound and has an active intellect as a leader.