Obasanjo’s call for coalition timely —Hon Oduyoye

The call by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for a coalition of forces to stop President Muhammadu Buhari from succeeding himself or the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from producing a successor in 2019 has been described as timely and a welcome development.

The former president had, in a public letter to Buhari on Tuesday, accused the president of being incompetent in tackling the problems besotting the country, declaring that both APC and PDP were not fit to move the country forward.

Honourable Babatunde Oduyoye, a former member of the House of Representatives, while speaking with Saturday Tribune, said Obasanjo’s intervention was a ggod one.

He however admonished that the Coalition for Nigeria project by Obasanjo should not be adopted wholesale for the entire country as, according to him, each state have its own peculiarities and should thus be treated accordingly.

“But the idea might not work in all the states because what happened differed from state to state. In Oyo State, for example, what is needed is generational shift. It is time for the young turks, irrespective of their party affiliation, to come together and salvage the state.

“In Oyo State, APC is time bomb, waiting to explode. There is disaffection in the party as members and leaders alike are crying of marginalization, even as the state executives of the party are said to be mere rubber stamps.

“The same goes for Oyo PDP which has failed to put its act together. By holding two congresses, it is doubtful if the party can ever stabilize and challenge the status quo.

“The letter by Chief Obasanjo to President Buhari is a reflection of the disaffection in APC and disunity in PDP. AD is the only credible alternative in the task of moving the South West forward and stop it from been subservient to a particular part of the country.

“I can assure you that most of the principal actors in the two political parties are talking with us in the Alliance for Democracy (AD). AD is taking off from where it stopped. It is the only party which can address the issue of the killer herdsmen and champion the cause and course of restructuring,” he said.