Obasanjo’s coalition to unseat Buhari launched in Abuja

A movement promoted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to unseat President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 was launched in Abuja yesterday.

In a widely publicised ‘Special Statement’ to President Buhari last week titled ‘The Way Out: A clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria movement’ Obasanjo asked Buhari not to run for a second term, accusing the president of poor performance and nepotism.

However,  only few recognisable faces turned up at the event. They were ex-governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State and Donald Duke of Cross River State, as well as former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) retired Col. Ahmadu Ali.

Obasanjo himself was absent but his spokesman, Kehinde Akinyemi said the former president returned to Nigeria late from Addis- Ababa, Ethiopia where he attended the AU summit. “He will register tomorrow in Abeokuta, Ogun State,” he said.

But hundreds of youths clad in the Coalition for Nigeria vests and face caps besieged the venue of the event with banners and posters, some bearing a map of Nigeria supported by two hands.

During the ceremony, the ex-president’s political associates said Coalition Nigeria is meant to dislodge the APC-led government in 2019 with a credible alternative.