Ace comedian, Francis Agoda known as I Go Dye who was in Europe last week, left Vienna, Austria yesterday and was seen with former Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo as they landed Nigeria from London.
Showing posts with label Olusegun Obasanjo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olusegun Obasanjo. Show all posts
How I Escaped And Cheated Death A Dozen Times - Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
One of Africa's most revered men and former President Olusegun Obasanjo has given insight into how he has escaped death over and over again in his 78 years sojourn on earth.
In his book, My Watch, Obasanjo explained how he survived infant mortality, being bitten by a scorpion, how he escaped death at Ogun River where he had gone to learn swimming and how he had accidents uncountable times.
Read excerpts below...
“Being one of two of my mother’s surviving children (out of seven), I must have had the grace of God to cross the hurdle of infant mortality. The other five never lived up to age one. The vicissitudes of rural life and limited resources did not guarantee survival for children born in my time and in the place I was born. Growing up in the village I was bitten by a scorpion once, and I survived it. The local herb and concoction applied by the native doctor worked in my case. I heard later that it did not work in some other cases.
When I was in primary school in Abeokuta, I went to the Ogun River to try to swim. My friend and classmate who went with me urged me to dive with him into the water; I asked him to go in first and I would follow. He dived in and hit his head against a rock, and he never survived. My mother pulled my ear and warned me never to go to the river for swimming again. That marked the end of my attempt to learn swimming.
When I was attached to the Welsh Guards in Pirbright, I had an accident while learning to drive. It could have been fatal for me and and for the oncoming motorcyclist, but we both survived. On returning to Nigeria, I had another accident in which the military vehicle I was driving without proper authority was a write-off. I survived with a fractured hand.
As a young officer on a UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Congo Leopoldville, now Democratic Republic of Congo, I had an encounter with Congolese soldiers that could have been fatal.
I returned home from the Congo and was posted to the Nigerian Army Engineers, where I had to learn to ride a motorcycle for reconnaissance purposes. I took a motorcycle ride out alone on training and had a nasty accident where, again, the motorcycle was damaged beyond repair, and I was saved by wearing a steel helmet. The story of my escaping death by the skin of my teeth during the civil war when four of my bodyguards died on the spot has been told elsewhere.
When I left public office as a military head of state, I was appointed Distinguished Fellow of the University of Ibadan in the Institute of African Studies. I was given a house to stay in when I had work in the university. On one occasion, I was to give a lecture and to spend the night there; but curiously, I decided to inspect the whole building and the compound. I found, to everybody’s surprise, a neat hole cut through the glass window; and on the mosquito wire netting on the window was a hole close to the head of the bed, just big enough to accommodate the muzzle of a pistol. I never slept in that house again. The whole university community, and Professor Tekena Tamuno as the vice-chancellor, was alarmed.
On my way from Abeokuta to Ogbomosho to attend the graduation ceremony of pastor Bolarinwa, who I sponsored to Baptist Theological Seminary, I was waylaid by armed robbers. They cut in front of my car to stop it, got out and shot into the air, and entered their car and drove off. Calmly, I got out of the car with my driver and other passengers. I came to understand that if they had known that I had been the one in the car, they would not have zeroed in on that car, or they would have killed me to avoid getting arrested. I also understood that the police followed them to a logical conclusion.
In addition, I have heard all sorts of fetish stories about how people tried or were trying to kill me and how I escaped through supernatural powers. I neither believe in nor practice anything fetish.
My greatest escape from untimely death was brought about through the machinations and snares of Abacha. Even that was God’s doing.”
The Okonjo-Iweala Who Worked For Me is Different From The Okonjo-Iweala Who Worked For Jonathan – Obasanjo Blast
In a new interview with Premium Times, former President, Olusegun Obasanjo said the Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who worked in his administration as Minister of Finance and later resigned is different from the one who worked in the Jonathan-led administration. Read excerpt from the interview below...
"Take Ngozi (Okonjo-Iweala), who worked for me. And who worked competently for me. Because I know Ngozi’s weaknesses, but I know her strong points. Her strong point is technical competence. But Ngozi needs to be led and to be supervised. Now will you comment on Ngozi who worked for me as the same Ngozi who worked for Jonathan? Will you? But it’s the same person"
PT: At what point do you think she derailed if I may use that word?
Obasanjo: No.
PT: Is it at the point that you changed her – because you removed her as finance minister. Was it at that point that she began to derail?
Obasanjo: She derailed because….when Jonathan even said he wanted her, I said ‘I hope you can manage her.’ And Ngozi herself sent me a text (and) I told her times have changed.
PT: But why did you change her? She was managing the economy very well for you. Why did you now remove her suddenly?
Obasanjo: I wrote it in that my book.
PT: It didn’t come out clearly enough?
Obasanjo: It must have come out. Maybe you haven’t read the book very well. I said I’ve touched reform. I’ve touched almost everywhere except Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So one day, I was in my office and the Head of Service, Yayale (Ahmed), came in. He said ‘look, you are looking not happy, what is the matter?’ I said I am worried about two ministries and the ministers who can do the work I wanted to be done there in these two ministries are already doing good work where they are. And he said ‘talk let me see.’ I said education and foreign affairs. And he said ‘who are the ministers that you think can do the job.’ I said Oby (Ezekwesili), Ngozi, and El-Rufai. He said ‘what is Oby doing for you now?’ I said Oby is doing Solid Minerals. He said ‘Sir, in all sincerity, I know you don’t like to rank ministries, but will you say Ministry of Solid Minerals is as important as Ministry of Education.’ I said yes I don’t rank ministries, they are all important. He said, ‘Can’t you take any of these three to do education and then get somebody else to do solid minerals?’ So I took Oby there. Now in the Ministry of Finance we had got debt relief, so I could afford to take Ngozi to Foreign Affairs. That’s all. And then she had Nenadi (Usman) who was the minister of state. She’s not a buffoon. And then, which is also part of her weakness, she came to me and said, look, since it’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she will like to take International Finance along with it. I said talk to your sister with whom you are working and I don’t see anything wrong with that provided you work out a relationship. But she didn’t accord Nenadi the recognition and the consideration that was necessary. I then said the ministry of International finance should go back to Finance and that happened. She said she couldn’t act. She put in a letter of resignation. And she had done that before, and before she could come and get people to come and beg, I announced acceptance (of her resignation).
PT: She once resigned before and she took it back?
Obasanjo: Yes.
PT: Which means you were always having disagreements…
Obasanjo: No no no. I know her character.
PT: So why did she resign the first time?
Obasanjo: She just felt if she cannot have her way, with me…. If I am the one in charge, then it has to be what I see as what is the best interest of the nation.
PT: So even when she resigned, if you didn’t announce the acceptance she would have come back. So all efforts to make her come back didn’t work?
Obasanjo: No no no. Because I had announced.
Wole Soyinka Knows More About Wine Tasting Than Politics - Obasanjo Blast
Iconic figures, Obasanjo and Soyinka, both in their 80's, have had a long love/hate relationship.
Speaking to Channels TV's 'Book Club' yesterday, where he was interviewed about his controversial book 'My Watch' where he also trashed Soyinka, Obasanjo said what he wrote about the literary icon in his book was purely his view and that Soyinka did not have to agree with him.
“Wole Soyinka is a gifted man. I have always acknowledged that but he is a bad politician and I have also always said that. That is my own point of view. He may agree with it, he may not agree with it. But having said that, I also, in my book, bring out Wole Soyinka as I see him and that’s my own judgment; that’s my own perspective of him. He may agree, he may not agree but anybody can bring out his own perspective of me. For instance, I know that if I want somebody to give me the best wine, one of the people I will go to is Wole Soyinka and I know he has a taste for good wine and I said that in the book.” he said. Continue to see what OBJ wrote about Soyinka that ticked him off
“For Wole, no one can be good, nor can anything be spot-on politically except that which emanates from him or is ordained by him. His friends and loved ones will always be right and correct, no matter what they do or fail to do. He is surely a better wine connoisseur and a more successful aparo (guinea fowl) hunter than a political critic."
Why I Allowed Abacha Arrest Me - Olusegun Obasanjo
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed reasons why he allowed former head of state, Sani Abacha to arrest him in March 1995 for allegedly conspiring abroad against the Abacha regime, despite many opportunities to escape and accept an offer of political asylum by the US.
Leadership reports
Obasanjo was among the opposition lights that were against the regime of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who ordered their arrest, trials and sentences but spared their lives due to international pressure. Abacha was the most senior military officer in the illegal contraption called Interim National Government led by Chief Ernest Shonekan after the military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, was forced to resign over the historic annulment of the June 12 June, 1993 election won by Moshood Abiola, who later died in the military gulag.
In his newest controversial memoir, ‘My Watch’, he narrated his opposition to the Abacha regime which led him to the formation of National Unity Organisation which he intended to use to force Abacha to quit power.
According to his narrative, Obasanjo had been meeting with some leading politicians and non-politicians in every part of the country on the need to free the country from the jackboot of Abacha whom he said, “was so much below average as an officer that no serious attention was paid to him until he was made to announce the coup.
“I was not in doubt that Abacha would attempt to silence me. This was clear from his apparent ambition for life presidency of Nigeria in insatiable appetite for corruption; his looting directly from the Central Bank; his need to silence everyone that could oppose him in any form; his actions towards my close friends and associates and his close surveillance of me by his security both within and outside Nigeria.”
Obasanjo recalled how during his visit to Kenya for the funeral of the father of the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, where the Nigerian Embassy officials wrote a report indicting him, stating that “since Odinga was in opposition to the government of Kenya when he died, I had gone to Kenya to create problems for the Kenyan government by supporting the opposition, and the Nigerian government should restrain me from causing great problems between Nigeria and Kenya.”
Narrating further, Obasanjo said,
“Rumours about Abacha taking action against me started to spread and ring louder and louder. I had no fear because I had done nothing to cause me fear or anxiety. I was about my life and my business unperturbed.”
"You Can Get Someone a Job But Can't Help Them do it"- Obasanjo on GEJ's Presidency
While delivering a speech at the convocation ceremony of the Benson Idahosa University in Benin city today, former President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke on Goodluck Jonathan's presidency.
"You can help someone get a job but you can't help them do it" he said
He also said that anyone who voted for Jonathan is as guilty he is "If you voted for Johnathan, you're just as guilty as he is for what has happened" he said
Obasanjo pictured above at the convocation with Laurie Idahosa and Bishop Margaret Idahosa below....
I Chose Yar’Adua Because Others Were Corrupt – Obasanjo Says
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday that he chose the late former President Umaru Yar’ Adua as his successor because the others who wanted the post were corrupt.
Obasanjo said one of the people who wanted to succeed him in 2007 was “stinkingly corrupt” and that the only way he (Obasanjo) could justify himself before man and God was to go for Yar’Adua, who, he said, was the only one among the contenders then who was not corrupt.
The former President, who spoke in an interview with a private television station, Channels
Television, in Abeokuta, did not mention the ‘corrupt’ Yar’Adua rivals.
Among the prominent presidential hopefuls in the Peoples Democratic Party in 2007 were Obasanjo’s deputy, Abubakar Atiku; and ex-Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili.
Atiku later abandoned the PDP to contest the presidential election on the platform of the defunct Action Congress while Odili’s ambition fizzled out with the nomination of Yar’Adua.
The AC later metamorphosed into the Action Congress of Nigeria, which later merged with the Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party to form the now ruling All Progressives Congress.
Obasanjo’s choice of successor died on May 5, 2010 from heart-related ailments. Many condemned Obasanjo for choosing a man who was manifestly sick to lead the country.
But in the Channels interview, PUNCH reports that Obasanjo said he only acted based on the information made available to him. He said:
“Even if you take your son as your successor, you are not sure of what he will do when he gets there. Don’t ever kid yourself. What do I know about any successor? What he presents. When he gets there, he presents it differently.
We did our best, but if you say our best is not good enough, I will say, when it comes to your turn, do better. With all the people that are available for successor, what we came up with was about the best that we could think of at that time.
One of those who wanted to do the job came to me and said, ‘Sir, I like your job, but I cannot do it the way you are doing it.’ Now, if he had told me that, should I then come and say, ‘okay, come, let me give you the job?’ He had told me that, ‘I like your job, but look, the way you are doing it, I haven’t got the stamina to do it that way.’ Then, what do you expect me to do?
Or the one that I know that, oh!, this one, before he gets the job, he’s stinkingly corrupt. Now will I be able to defend myself before God and man if with what I know I give this job or I encourage the man to have this job?”
Senate President Bukola Saraki in Closed door Meeting with Obasanjo(Details from Meeting Revealed)
Facts have emerged revealing why Senate President Bukola Saraki led a delegation of Senators to meet former President Olusegun Obasanjo at his hilltop mansion in Abeokuta, Ogun state today.
A source who was part of the meeting informed PREMIUM TIMES that the Senate President was in Abeokuta to beg Mr. Obasanjo to reconcile him with President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Mr. Saraki emerged as the president of the Senate against the decision of APC leaders. He was also elected when most Senators from the APC were at the International Conference Centre waiting to hold a meeting with Mr. Buhari to discuss the election of the Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Premium times gathered that Mr. Saraki lamented that although the party leaders have stated that they have accepted his emergence, there was “complete communication breakdown between him, the president and the party”.
The national chairman of the APC, John Oyegun, had abruptly cancelled a scheduled meeting with Mr. Saraki last week without giving another appointment.
Likewise, we also gathered that Mr. Saraki had tried severally to meet with Mr. Buhari after his emergence, but was always denied audience.
Another source in the presidency informed PT that the President was angry with Mr. Saraki and the management of the national assembly for going ahead with their election despite adequate knowledge of an invitation for a meeting with Mr. Saraki and his colleagues.
“The president considered it as a mark of disrespect for his office for Saraki to ignore an invitation to meet with him and his colleagues,” our source said.
In his response, Mr. Obasanjo promised to do his best to “ensure communication between all parties”.
However, the spokesperson for the president, Garba Shehu, said the Senate president did not seek to meet with Mr. Buhari.
“I am not aware of any request for a meeting, the president would have seen him, he represents a key institution in our democracy,” he said.
Calls to Mr. Saraki and his aide, Bamikole Omishore, were not answered.
However, the former president in his usual self also joked with the delegation, saying “ you children of nowadays only run to elders when you have finished making the damage”.
PREMIUM TIMES also learnt that after he was informed of the visit, Mr. Obasanjo called Mr. Buhari to inform him that Mr. Saraki is leading a delegation of Senators to his Abeokuta home and Mr. Buhari simply said “you have to see them now, are they not your boys?”.
Among Mr. Saraki’s delegation include former governor of Gombe state, Danjuma Goje, Andy Uba, former Zamfara governor, Ahmed Sani, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and others.
I Don’t Care About What Obasanjo Says About Me- Atiku
Read excerpt from the interview below:
Your former boss, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, said so many not-too-complimentary things about you in his latest book, ‘My Watch’. Have you both met since then?
“You know, really, I don’t give a damn (about) what
Obasanjo says about me.”
When asked about if former President Obasanjo scuttled the best chance he ever had to lead this country as president, Atiku replied saying “I don’t think so. How? When?” On Obasanjo scuttling his political career
As far as I am concerned, Obasanjo may believe that he scuttled my presidential ambition, but I believe it is about God. If God says I will be president, I will be president; if He says I will not be president, I will not be president. Let’s forget about Obasanjo.
On contesting for president again
It is quite too early for such a question. We are in a transition process. We have not even formed the next government. You are asking me whether I will like to run again or not. I think it is just too early. My concern is to make sure that the transition process is smooth and complete and a new government is formed because it is the party that I belong to that is coming in. My dream for Nigeria is always that we can, from time to time, change government so that there can be competition among parties and that competition will bring about, perhaps more development and progress in the country. I think that is my most important concern now rather than thinking of whether I’m going to run again or not.
On meeting President Goodluck Jonathan before the general elections
I have told Nigerians what transpired between the two of us. He wanted me to come back to the PDP and I said I was not coming back.
Do's and don'ts : Obasanjo Writes Gen. Buhari Open letter
Who said been president needs no manual? Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has written the President elect, Gen Buhari an open letter. In the letter, Chief Obasanjo charged Gen. Buhari to embark on reforming all of Nigeria's national institutions, particularly the military.
Read below...
I hasten to congratulate you on your success and victory in the Presidential Elections of March 28, 2015. Your success and victory after three previous unsuccessful attempts must be great object lessons for you and for all politicians, particularly in Nigeria. For me, the totality of 2015 elections hold many lessons for our democracy and democratisation process, which are both maturing. On this occasion, the system has been unnecessarily overheated before and particularly during the campaigns when emphasis was more on trivialities and hate, divisive, undignifying and disrespectful statements and comments rather than on pressing issues requiring attention.
I know that in victory, you will be magnanimous to start binding the wounds and bitterness occasioned by the campaign and the evil disciples.
With so much harm already done to many national institutions including the military, which proudly nurtured you and me, you will have a lot to do on institution reform, education, healthcare, economy, security, infrastructure, power, youth employment, agribusiness, oil and gas, external affairs, cohesiveness of our nation and ridding our land of corruption.
Your varied and wide experience will undoubtedly stand you in good stead. I am also sure that there are men and women of goodwill, character and virtue across the board that you can mobilise to join hands with you in the reform, repairs and redirection that will be imperative to put Nigeria back on the fast lane of good governance, unity, cohesiveness, development and progress.
Once again, I felicitate with you and wish you well.
Hah! : Obasanjo Publicly Tears His PDP Membership Card(See)
Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo has turned the heat up on the PDP, he had his ward chairman tear his PDP membership card at a press conference in Abeokuta this morning where he also again announced his exit from the party. He said he'll stay away from party politics and remain non-partisan. More photos below....
Obasanjo Is Nigeria's Number One Enemy, He Is A Cancer - Governor Fayose Blast OBJ
Below is a press statement from the office of the Ekiti state government....
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the number one enemy of Nigeria, saying; "he is a confusionist who has lost his status as a statesman and Nigerians should simply ignore him."
The governor, who expressed confidence that President Goodluck Jonathan will be reelected to complete his eight years term, added that; "Obasanjo is only fighting President Jonathan because he prevented him (Obasanjo) from ruling Nigeria from his Ota Farm."
In a statement issued on Sunday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said "Obasanjo is a cancer that may never get cured in a lifetime.
"The moment Obasanjo is not the one controlling a house, he will want the house pulled down but this time around, he has failed."
The governor said; "Obasanjo has always benefitted from the misfortune of others and he is living with the impression that he is the wisest person in the whole world.
"When Murtala Mohammed was murdered in 1976, Obasanjo was the beneficiary.
"In 1993, he said the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Chief MKO Abiola was not the Messiah Nigeria needed. Instead of Obasanjo to join the clamour for the actualisation of Abiola's mandate, Obasanjo was canvassing for an Interim National Government, which he schemed to head.
"MKO Abiola died in detention in 1997 and Obasanjo became the beneficiary of his (Abiola) death.
"Despite the fact that it was the blood of MKO Abiola that Obasanjo matched on to power, not even a street was named after Abiola throughout Obasanjo’s eight years as president.
"Today, Obasanjo is fighting President Jonathan, the man who has done what he failed to do for Abiola, the Yoruba people and Nigerians as a whole when he was president for eight years, simply because he does not want anyone to equal his record as Nigeria's longest serving president.
"President Jonathan has made it impossible for Obasanjo to run his presidency for him and for this reason, he is supporting Buhari, hoping that he will be the one to nominate ministers for Buhari if he becomes president.
"Abanije eniyan to nba eeyan je kiri, ojo to ba dekun ibaje ni won maa ba oun naa je kanle ( He who destroys will ultimately ends up in destruction).
"However, I have this bad news for Obasanjo. Nigeria is not his football that he can kick around as he likes. President Jonathan will be reelected, and Nigeria will be freed from his (Obasanjo) bondage once and for all."
"He Is Afraid Buhari Might Jail Him When He Leaves Office" - Obasanjo Blast GEJ Again
Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday came hard again on President Jonathan and his style of governance, claiming that President Jonathan is afraid that if Gen Buhari wins the election, he might jail him when he leaves office. Obasanjo said this while speaking to newsmen at his home in Abeokuta shortly after his return from his trip to Kenya and UK.
Obasanjo said President Jonathan was doing everything possible to win the elections, either by hook or by crook. He said president Jonathan is playing the cards of former Cote d’Ivoire President, Laurent Gbagbo who continued shifting elections in his country in a bid to ensure that he won the election, a situation that plunged Cote d'Ivoire into political crisis. He said President Jonathan was reigning and not ruling after he said in his last media chat he was not aware of the military's advise that the election be postponed. He said INEC deciding to postpone the election was a forced decision. Read all below....
"While I was away, I refused to make any categorical statement on this issue because I wanted to come back home and learn at firsthand what actually transpired and what was going on, and it turned out to be a forced decision on the INEC because it was alleged that the Security Chiefs were unable to provide security, and as a result the Chairman of INEC had to postpone, in accordance with the dictates of the so called Security Chiefs. I thought, for me, that was bad precedent for democracy in Nigeria. It meant it doesn't matter what preparation or lack of preparation any electoral body could make in Nigeria. The final decision whether election will take place on the day scheduled for it lies in the domain of security. It is a sad day for democracy in Nigeria. I will say this: we must all feel concerned before democracy is killed. The observable and what would appear to be happening is that the president has a grand plan, a grand plan to ensure that by hook or by crook, he wins the election or if it all fails, he scuttles it and creates chaos, confusion and unpleasantness in the whole country. It is the duty and function and responsibility of the security officers to provide security. The President is the Chief Security Officer of the country and he is the Commander- in -Chief and if security is required anywhere, anytime, it is his duty to provide it.
Failure to provide it is dereliction of duty. Pure and simple. Whether the President is following his own grand plan or his aides and associates are working a script, they are playing a script which must have got his endorsement, if not initiated by him. What again, it looks to me that the President is trying to play Gbagbo (Laurent). Gbagbo is the former President of Cote d’Ivoire and Gbagbo made sure he postponed the election in his country until he was sure he would win and then allowed the election to take place. He got an inconclusive election in the first ballot. And I believe this is the sort of thing Nigeria may fall into. If I am right in what I observed as the grand plan and then in the run-off, Gbagbo lost with 8% behind Quattara and then refused to hand over. All reasonable persuasion and pleading was rebuffed by him and he unleashed horror in that country until nemesis caught up with him. I believe that we may be seeing a repeat of Gbagbo or what I called the Gbagbo saga here in Nigeria, I hope not.” he said
Obasanjo said the reasons given by military chiefs who called for election postponement is not tenable and that if they have failed, they should as well leave office and go home
“When they have failed, they can as well go home. Their job is to maintain law and order and provide security at any time and at any place. They said they cannot do it, they have failed. I want to believe that this was forced on them, I want to believe that but whether it was forced on them or it was their initiative, it was bad, very bad. I hope we will never have a repeat performance of this in this country again. The unfortunate thing is this: they are over exposing themselves or they are being over exposed by whoever brought about that way of doing things, and for me, a momentous decision like that cannot be taken and implemented by the security chiefs. It was even made worse when the President in the media chat on the 11th of this month claimed not to have knowledge or not to have authorized it. I get worried, very worried, that if the President of Nigeria is not in-charge of security, maintenance of law and order and such a decision can be taken behind him, assuming that is true, then the President must be reigning but not ruling. And who then are the shadow figures that are ruling us? It means that one day we will find out that this country would be plunged into chaos, into commotion and into confusion and the President would say, ‘I do not know about it’, of course President(Jonathan) can run but he cannot run past God. He has constitutional responsibility and to claim he doesn’t know is not an excuse. So, I do hope that those Service Chiefs who we are proud of the services people like me and others like me have rendered and proud of what they are doing, will not shame themselves and shame us.
This is because what this amounts to is what, in the military circle, is called very an unmilitary conduct and conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. For me, you can give any excuse or you can give any rationalization or you can rationalize anything. Look Boko Haram problem has been with us since 2009 and now if we say what we have not been able to achieve since 2009 would be achieved in six weeks, all I would say is that God is a God of miracle. God can do anything but knowing what we know, look countries like Syria had election, they have full scale war all over the country. A country like Iraq had election, they had full scale war and they are still having war. Countries like Afghanistan had election, they even had election where the incumbent served his term and moved out. Even Colombia where the rebel group (FARC) has been active for more than 50 years has been having elections regularly and FARC is still very active. So, to say that what we have not been able to achieve in five years, we will achieve in six weeks, let us wait and see. When people want to make excuses, they should look for excuses that are tenable. I believe the President’s fear is not leaving office per se, because he and I have had occasions to talk about this both seriously and jovially. I believe President would want an opportunity to disengage peacefully and have a nice, decent and a glorious exit, I believe the President’s fear is, particularly, motivated by those who he see as Gen Buhari as his likely successor. I believe those people would have been telling him that Buhari is a hard man, he would fight corruption and you may end up in jail if not in grave. I believe people must have told him all sorts of things and he is not the only one, there are other people who may be afraid of Buhari. But why? I would say that Buhari has learnt his lessons. If he hasn’t learnt lessons, then he would be probably the most unlearning human being.
If he has learnt lessons, he would know that you do not fight corruption by putting people in jail for 200 years. And this has been done by my own predecessor in office, General Abdulsalami Abubakar. He recovered over $750 million from Abacha’s estate without putting anybody in jail, without hurting or harming anybody. When I took over, we recovered over $1.25 billion from the same Abacha estate without hurting anybody, without harming anybody. In fact, what would be rather unfortunate is the fact that our lawyer who is still alive and able, who was chasing this money all over the world, said to us that there’s still about $1 billion to be recovered from Abacha estate but the unfortunate thing is that my successor did not do anything about it even though it was in my handing over note. I don’t think the President is afraid of being out. There’s life after Aso Villa. It depends, of course to a large extent, on how he descendsý; how his descent takes place; and how his exit takes place. Because out there in the international world, there’s so much need for the wisdom and experience of people who have done it before. They also want people who are creditable and credible.” he said
According to President Obasanjo, General Buhari would give a firm leadership to Nigeria and preside over an efficient and effective economy
"Whoever comes in at anytime in future will fight corruption, and we must even encourage successful fight of corruption. We must. Recklessness and impunity must not continue to be our part of life. Whether recklessness and impunity in the management of our economic affairs, in the running of our finances and even in political affairs, they must not be allowed to remain part of us. Buhari has tried to do it before. I believe he will give firm leadership which is what is good for a country like this. When he was there, it was the military and military is both the executive and the legislature. In a democracy, that is not possible. I believe he knows the military, the damage that has been done to the military. It has been rendered almost impotent by a number of things that have happened and I believe he will do something about it. And if he doesn’t do it, I would say shame on him if he gets there because that is some of the things he knows. I believe he can preside over an efficient and effective economy. He has the knowledge, he has the experience, he may not be a bowl of fire as an economist but he presided over it.” he said
He advised President Jonathan to stop listening to those creating the phobia of Buhari in him
"He should not listen to those who are creating phobia, phobia of Buhari, phobia of enquiry and all that. President Jonathan has done well to the best of his ability and he has made history as the first elected Nigerian from a minority tribe and nobody can take that away from him. He can even make a second history, if it turns out that way. If he contests a fair, free and transparent election and loses, take a dignified exit. He will be on the mountain top and he would be acclaimed as a true patriot and a true democrat. What stops him from doing this?” he said
Obasanjo Officially Endorses Buhari
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has publicly expressed support for the electioneering campaign of Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler and presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking at the launch of My Watch in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday, Obasanjo, who served his two terms as president under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), condemned the postponement of the election.
“The circumstances [Buhari] will be working under if he wins the election are different from the one he worked under before, where he was both the executive and the legislature — he knows that. He’s smart enough. He’s educated enough. He’s experienced enough. Why shouldn't I support him?”
It is the first time that the ex-president has publicly spoken of his support for Buhari. He recently said that he would only speak out on his leaning after the election has been conducted.
Oh No! Chibok Girls May Never Return - Former President Olusegun Obasanjo Says
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo claims that some of the missing Chibok girls may never return and we'll continue to read about them in years to come.
This he said yesterday Oct 5th while speaking at the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"I believe that some of them will never return. We will still be hearing about them many years from now, some will give birth to children of the Boko Haram members, but if they cannot take care of them in the forest, they may release them.” he said.
Ebola : Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo Share His Thoughts On Late Patrick Sawyer
Former president, Lusegun Obasanjo has expressed his thoughts on Sawyer, his act and those who made it possible for him to enter Nigeria with the disease and spread it.
Speaking at an event held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun state today, Obasanjo said;
"It is devilish enough Patrick Sawyer had to spread this and indeed spread it to Nigeria in connivance with some Liberian authorities from his country, because they knew he had it before he came to Nigeria. The EVD has started to take its toll on the country and the West African sub region. The toll is not only on the number of those who are ill or dead but on the communities, countries, regions and sub-region"
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