OBASANJO’S PROPOSED COALITION MOVEMENT GATHERS MOMEMTUM, AS GROUP OPENS WEBSITE

However, in a related development, the proposed movement was launched on Wednesday at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.  Obasanjo was not present at the launch in Abuja, but two former PDP governors, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Donald Duke, were in attendance.

The former governor of Osun State, was quoted to have said the movement is not yet a political party, adding that ‘If and when we come to an agreement that we must metaphose into a political party, then we will. We’re not a political party, at least, for now,”

Oyinlola, who was the national secretary of the PDP before joining the APC in 2014, acknowledged that for the movement to make electoral impact in the manner described by Obasanjo in his letter, said its proponents would need to follow the Constitution and register it as a political party.

“We recognize the facts that by the dictates of the Constitution, you can only contest on the platform of a political party,”, he said

Oyinlola also responded to critics who see the movement as an attempt to legitimise the legacy of Obasanjo who governed as a democratically elected president between 1999-2007, positioning that ‘to say that we are legitimising OBJ’s legacy is a bit off the mark,”.

He explained that the leaders of the movement are not necessarily eyeing political offices to benefit themselves, saying their aim is to help leave a better tomorrow for the younger generation, stressing that the leaders of the movement said Nigerians have been through a lot in the hands of the political elite and canvassed a fresh alternative for citizens by 2019.