Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said yesterday he would cease from being a member anytime the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) decides to join partisan politics.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Obasanjo disclosed this when he officially registered as a member of the CNM at the NUJ secretariat, Abeokuta.
“I am happy to be a member of the Coalition for Nigeria Movement which is a movement for good governance.
“This is the commencement for our popular and grassroots association. The membership will be free to collectively decide on whether it will become a political party and if it decides to transform itself and go into partisan politics, I will cease to be a member,’’ he said.
Obasanjo completed the membership form of the Movement and handed it over to former Governor of Osun State, Col. Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Rtd.), who is the National Coordinator of the group.
The ex-president’s stance that the movement was apolitical, even though he ealier told President Muhammadu Buhari not to contest for second term had already opened another chapter on discourse about 2019 with many pundits already asking what exactly he wanted to achieve.
On Wednesday, Oyinlola had remarked that it would be difficult to achieve something tangible without a political party.
“We’re not a political party, at least, for now,” he said, but quickly added that it would be difficult to make electoral fortunes as envisaged by Obasanjo without a formidable platform in the form of a political party.
“We recognise the facts that by the dictates of the Constitution, you can only contest on the platform of a political party,” he added, a development that made many people at the event to suspect that the movement might likely end up as a political party.
The CNM, which was officially launched in Abuja on Wednesday, was the brainchild of Obasanjo, which he had proffered as a platform to mobilise Nigerians for unity in his recent advice to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is necessary to make it clear that this new movement does not regard itself as a third force,” Obasanjo said.
“It sees itself as a popular movement that can accommodate all Nigerians irrespective of their political interest or affiliations and will propel Nigeria forward,’’ he said.