Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reacted to comments on pictures of his meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari a few days after his scathing letter was made public.
The picture of the duo exchanging pleasantries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia had elicited mixed reactions from Nigerians.
Only a few days earlier, Obasanjo had released a 13-page letter criticizing the president’s performance and handling of the country’s affairs.
Speaking on the development in Oke Ilewo in Abeokuta, Ogun state on Thursday, Obasanjo said:
“Last week, I issued a statement which I did not do lightly or frivolously but out of deep concern for the situation of our country.
I wonder why some Nigerians were worried why I had to pay respect to the Nigerian president at Addis Ababa. That’s my own upbringing as a well-born and bred Yoruba boy.
That doesn’t mean that what I have said about the president, which I did not say out of bitterness and hatred… it is evidence that the president has performed, in some areas, good enough.
In other areas not good and the proper advice I gave, which he may take and he may not take.
I didn’t do that out of malice or out of ‘bad belle’. I did it out of my respect for that office and my interest and I hope in your interest and the interest of Buhari.”