TheCable

Akin Osuntokun, chieftain of the Coalition of Nigeria (CNM), says God chose Atiku Abubakar as the instrument to rescue Nigeria from the “dangerous turn” President Muhammadu Buhari has driven the country.

Abubakar is the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Speaking on former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of Atiku, Osuntokun said “desperate time calls for desperate measure”.

Osuntokun, a former aide of Obasanjo, said going by recent developments in the country, any responsible Nigerian statesman will put aside personal differences to rescue the country from political abyss.

He said: “The Buhari surrogates who have been frothing over the reunion of President Olusegun Obasanjo and President to be Atiku Abubakar are correct in the observation that this is an unusual development. And they only have their principal, President Muhammadu Buhari to thank for this positive turn of events. To put it mildly, these are desperate times in Nigeria and desperate problems readily provoke desperate measures.

“Confronted with the present danger and calamity that the presidency of Buhari poses to Nigeria, the choice and course of action open to any responsible Nigerian statesman is clear-and that is the subordination of all personal differences to the task of rescuing Nigeria from the fast pace downward spiral towards the political abyss.

“And God, in his inimitable ways, has seen fit to choose Atiku Abubakar as the instrument of rescuing Nigeria from the dark and dangerous turn that the incumbent driver has swerved the country. It is perhaps for the task of the unprecedented challenge of this moment that God has been preparing Atiku-who like all mortals is not without his share of human imperfections. To err is human and to forgive is divine. This cannon alone recommends and sanctions the reconciliation between Obasanjo and Atiku.

“Indeed, the question of the instrumentality of Atiku is one which many Nigerians like Obasanjo have had to ponder and they all couldn’t have had any difficulty arriving at the same call Obasanjo has made. The political differences between Afenifere and Obasanjo is an open secret but in deference to the same logic, it has not been difficult for the two parties to subsume their differences, close ranks and find equal purpose in halting and reversing the Buhari trend that endangers all.”

Referring to Buhari as “lifeless”, he accused the president of aiding corruption, noting that the choice between Abubakar and Buhari is clear.

“The Buhari crowd just doesn’t get the sense of the common national consensus that the choice between Buhari and Atiku is like comparing sleep to death or lifelessness – apologies to Donald Trump. Surely the choice is clear,” he said.