Lanre Issa-Onilu, spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says former president Olusegun Obasanjo is haunted by his actions while in office, especially with regards to the conduct of elections.
Issa- Onilu said Obasanjo “would realise that he is not God” after the presidential election.
He was reacting to allegations by Obasanjo that the APC-led federal government had concluded plans with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the elections.
“For eight years of Obasanjo in office, all the elections he held, infact, government policies were determined by whatever mood he found himself,” the APC spokesman said on Sunday.
“All the institutions of government were brought under his wings and what he did for those eight years is what is haunting him.
“He cannot imagine that a government will allow INEC the statuary independence that it has. We have had 93 elections or more since APC came to power, and you can be sure that all those elections were conducted without government interference.
“We can understand where the former president is coming from, his past is haunting him, he imagines that perhaps the way he did it is the same way we will do it.”
The APC spokesman advised Obasanjo to adjust himself to the reality of an imminent defeat.
“He has carried himself about as the dispenser of our destiny and God is showing him clearly that he has just only been lucky,” he said.
“And the favour that God has done to him, he now considers as the things that are coming from him.
“I think it is time for him to smell the coffin, this election will come and it will be free and fair, APC does not have any reason to rig it.”
Issa-Onilu said the presidential debate missed by President Muhammadu Buhari was only important to those seeking power.
“The president does not have to give reason for now attending that debate,” he said.
“Let me reiterate like I have said earlier, the debate is just one of several platforms for our candidate to engage with the public. We pick the platforms that are impactful and we are the one to determine which one we want to use.
“Debate with who? That’s an insult. That the president will come and debate with who? The debate the president is having is what he did in Niger state – [Niger people] can look to a brighter future. The people of this country, everywhere they go they see development, they can see projects going on. So these are the debates that the president is already engaging with the public.
“That particular debate could be important and I think it is important to those seeking power not somebody who has has a lot speaking for him already.”