Laide Raheem, Abeokuta |

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a few minutes ago, officially launched the Coalition for Nigeria Movement in Ogun State.

The ex-president, who arrived at the Iwe Irohin NUJ Press Centre, Oke Ilewo, Abeokuta, accompanied by the former governors of Cross River and Osun states, Donald Duke and Olagunsoye Oyinlola, respectively, Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka, Mrs. Modupe Adelaja and top politicians from the All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party, was afterward decorated with the official emblem of the Movement by Duke.

While addressing the full-packed hall, Obasanjo said his letter to Buhari last week was born not out of frivolity, but out of great concern for the situation in the country.

He added that Nigeria as a nation cannot continue business as usual, observing that:

“If the instrument we have used since independence has not worked, then we should rethink and retool to make the country work.”

Obasanjo, who stressed that Nigeria, like any other countries, has various challenges, explained that the Coalition was set up to mobilize Nigerians for peace, unity, security, stability, love, welfare and the wellbeing of vulnerable Nigerians, particularly youth and women who, according to him, have been at the receiving end of national crises.

He mentioned the disrespect for the federal character as enshrined in the country’s constitution, the spate of killings and violence across the country, and the parlous nature of Nigeria’s economy under President Buhari’s administration, as some of the reasons for the Coalition.

Details later…