#NigeriaDecides2019 | Obasanjo keeps mum over Buhari’s reelection

As congratulatory messages continued to pour in from within and outside the country over the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari, former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has however kept mum.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, in the early hours of Wednesday declared Buhari winner of the Saturday’s presidential polls.

Prominent and well-meaning Nigerians, as well as international leaders, have since been commending and congratulating Buhari over his victory in the election, widely adjudged as peaceful and credible.

Obasanjo, who had been quite vocal in the build-up to the election has, however, appears to have suddenly gone into hiding by keeping silent since the result was announced.

Telephone calls made to Obasanjo’s Media Aide, Mr Kehinde Akinyemi, by the correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) were not picked while text messages sent to him for reaction were neither acknowledged nor replied.

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NAN recalls that Obasanjo had severally castigated Buhari, and openly campaigned against him few months to the election.

The former president also endorsed and adopted Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whom he had once accused and condemned over corruption claims.

He had also told Nigerians that God would not forgive him (Obasanjo) if he ever supported Atiku to be president.

He, however, later changed political gear to ensure that Buhari was not re-elected.

The presidency has however repeatedly asked Nigerians to ignore Mr Obasanjo, saying Mr Buhari’s performance in office was enough to earn him re-election.

From the results announced by INEC, Buhari had defeated Atiku in Obasanjo’s polling unit in Abeokuta and also scored a total of 15,191,847 to defeat Atiku, his closest rival who scored 11,262,978 votes.