The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Obasanjo

  • Obasanjo’s third term plot was real – Fayose

    Obasanjo’s third term plot was real – Fayose

    … Ex- President knew about Yar’Adua’s ill-health before 2007 poll

    …How Obasanjo knelt down for Gaddafi

    The Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, said the aborted third term agenda of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was real.

    He said the principal officers of the National Assembly got N100 million each in 2006, while the rest of the lawmakers were paid N50 million per head.

    He alleged that the former President knelt down for the late Libyan leader, Mouamar Gaddafi, to seek his backing for third term.

    He also said Obasanjo knew about the ill-health of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua before he was elected as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2007.

    The governor made the startling revelations in the July 18, 2017 edition of THE INTERVIEW, a magazine published by a former Editor of THE PUNCH, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene.

    Fayose said: “Yes it is true. The people I am going to mention here, two of the key players are now dead. That position of Presidential Selection Committee that I headed was set up by all PDP governors. Initially, they wanted Dr. Olusegun Agagu. Then, the majority insisted that they wanted Fayose. So, since the majority wanted me, Baba (Olusegun Obasanjo) invited me to Ota and encouraged me to go ahead. I remember the committee was made up of Governors Danjuma Goje, Ahmed Makarfi, Bukola Saraki, James lbori, me and one other person who I cannot remember now. I want to tell you that, at some point, the majority of the committee was more disposed to having Makarfi as the presidential nominee. l and one other person were the only dissenters

    “So, as a loyal Obasanjo boy then, I went to Obasanjo then and told that this committee that was set up, everybody seemed to prefer Makarfi except me and one other person and we were in the minority.

    “Five out of seven governors wanted Makarfi. Then Obasanjo pointedly told me that Markafi was too smart and would not be easily controlled by him and, therefore, I must ensure that Makarfi did not emerge the presidential candidate. He mandated me to be briefing him often about the way things were going.

    “He confided in me that whether it was Makarfi or anybody that he was not prepared to leave. At that time, the third term agenda had begun to unfold in Abuja. I can tell you that l was co-opted into the secret committee that was behind it. In that body, we had had this senator from Plateau, Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Andy Uba and many others. We were the key players. Let me tell you the truth: at that time, I did not have a choice. l was just a young man without experience.

    “The Senate meeting started at about 11:00 a.m. in the morning and by 1:00 p.m. each senator was asked to stand up and say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ before live television coverage whether they supported third term or not, and the majority had their way. So Obasanjo’s dream of third term was shut down. Thereafter, he called a national meeting of PDP, termed reconciliation meeting and denied that he asked or worked for third term.

    “Meanwhile, before that time, N50 million was given to every federal lawmaker to support third term. The majority collected the money and still voted against third term. Principal officers got N100 million each. Where did that huge sum of money came from?”

    Fayose opened up on the politics behind the choice of the late President Yar’Adua as a presidential candidate of PDP.

    He said the current Chairman of the PDP, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi was sidelined in favour of Yar’Adua.

    He added: “Let me now come to the Yar’Adua issue. Obasanjo now called me and said, ‘Now that third term has failed, you should go ahead with the PDP committee. And in order for me to check those rooting for Markafi, I should go and sound Yar’Adua out on the ticket. He told me, ‘Don’t tell him I asked you to come. You psyche him up’. So, l met Yar’Adua in his lodge in Katsina. I met Yar’Adua in the company of Yakubu Tanimu (who became his influential chief economic adviser) and his police orderly.

    “I remember that while our interaction lasted, the orderly knelt down close to Yar’Adua. I acted as directed by Obasanjo, but the man told me expressly that he was not well enough to aspire to be Nigerian president; that the job would be too rigorous for him.

    “After much persuasion, he then told me the only condition under which he might consider running was if all stakeholders would sign up and reach an agreement to pick him as the consensus candidate because he did not want any hassles.

    “I remember, before then, Yar’Adua was hardly attending Council of State meetings because of his health. So, l went to tell Baba what Yar’Adua told me. On the issue of Yar’Adua’s ill-health. I remember Obasanjo told me, ‘Don’t worry about his sickness; government money dey to manage his ill-health.’ Baba told me to go and put the outcome of my interaction with Yar’Adua in writing.

    “Then Masari became the first loser; because, until then, Bello Masari as the Speaker of House of Reps was very loyal to Baba and did all the dirty jobs Baba wanted him to do, with the promise that he would be made the next Katsina governor after Yar’Adua. But once Yar’Adua became anointed as PDP candidate, he preferred Shema to be his successor. That was one of the conditions he listed. That was how a wedge came between Yar’Adua and Masari. “That was the genesis of the rift between Shema and Masari up until today. Shema was then the deputy national chairman of PDP. That was how Masari defected to CPC. What I am trying to say is that Obasanjo engineered all the bitterness that exists in Katsina politics today

    “All the confusion in Nigeria today was caused by Obasanjo in his scheming to install a stooge, a weakling in power so that he would continue to be relevant.”

    Fayose also spoke on how Obasanjo went on his knees to beg Gaddafi to seek the late dictator’s support for the third term plot.

    He said: “It was such a pathetic scenario, so shameful. Obasanjo was speaking rapidly like a parrot. I was shocked beyond words. I never knew Obasanjo would be that humble.

    “He was on one knee till the end of the conversation. Gaddafi kept quiet and was just watching Obasanjo. When Obasanjo stopped rambling, Gaddafi said, ‘Have you finished? Just know that I will not attend that meeting. I have other engagements.”

    He also explained how on two major occasions when he went to visit Atiku at the height of Obasanjo’s third term bid, security details promptly reported him to the former President, even before he left the venue.

    He said:  “Obasanjo told me that when you capture a general and you don’t kill him, he’ll come back and kill you; that since Atiku tried to stop him and failed, he must pay for it. And he (Atiku) is still paying for it.”

    Fayose said he knew, as an insider at the time, that Obasanjo betrayed former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, to get the United States support for this third term bid, after promising Taylor safe haven in Nigeria.”

    Fayose said he had not spoken with President Muhammadu Buhari in the last two years.

  • OPC warn IPOB chief stop attacking Obasanjo, Tinubu

    OPC warn IPOB chief stop attacking Obasanjo, Tinubu

    The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has warned the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to stop disparaging former President Olusegun Obasanjo and All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    Two factional groups in the Yoruba organisation – New Era and Reformed OPC – gave the warning in a statement by their leaders, Razaq Aroundade (Reformed) and Dara Adesope (New Era).

    The statement said: “OPC is also committed to the promotion and furtherance of democratic principles in Nigeria. We will, as an organisation, support the entrenchment of democracy, rule of law and all the attributes of a sound democracy.

    “OPC also supports the genuine aspirations of all self-determination groups, which pursue their aims through non-violent means.

    “The Constitution and several international charters, to which the country is a signatory, recognise the right to freedom of association by anybody, whether individual, corporate or institutional.

    “However, in supporting such agitations, we must not shy away from rebuking Nnamdi Kanu for the aspersions he has been casting in the direction of our referred leaders. Kanu’s repeated condemnations of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and others, are condemned in the strongest possible terms. The idea of respect for elders is a fundamental part of the Yoruba culture and tradition and we cannot afford to overlook such transgressions.

    “We, therefore, use this medium to warn this irritant called Nnamdi Kanu and other such individuals, who are fond of making careless comments in relation to our leaders, that OPC will no longer sit back and allow disrespect of our leaders or to use them to score cheap political points.”

     

  • God made Trump president to humble America – Obasanjo

    God made Trump president to humble America – Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says Americans are humans too like Africans in choosing Donald Trump as president.

    “The fact that America can produce a Trump in this day and age, it means Americans are as human as we are,” he said in a rare reflection that appeared to have mocked the US election last November.

    He said he was happy about the turnout of events in the U.S. adding: ”I am not justifying what African leaders are doing. If our leaders are doing wrong, we should say that they are doing wrong.

    “Trump has come so that America can be humbled, and we can also learn that lesson.”

    Obasanjo spoke during the launch of the French version of a book entitled ‘Making Africa Work.’ at the French Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, according to the News24 portal.

    The book described as ”A trenchant analysis of the continent economic fault lines and a handbook of best practices to redress them,” is authored by Greg Mills, Jeffrey Herbst, Olusegun Obasanjo and Dickie Davis.

    The former president pointed out that although Africa still needs foreign direct investment, it is time for the continent to show the rest of the world that it can take charge of its own future.

    “Nobody can do it for us, and it is all of us, and if we do it, we will get it right,” he said.

     

  • Obasanjo’s puzzling homilies

    Obasanjo’s puzzling homilies

    FORMER president Olusegun Obasanjo is so full of contradictions that it is sometimes pointless subjecting his world views and statements to analysis. The analyst will always be at a loss where to begin and where to end. With a mind so made up on virtually everything and everyone, the former military head of state and army general is unlikely to be edified by anyone’s contrary opinion or useful suggestion. But because he keeps shocking the public with his constant oversimplifications, it behoves that same long-suffering public to mind his views, take umbrage when necessary, vigorously disagree with him on occasions, and even though often futile, try to put him in his place. The former president’s strange homilies at a programme organised some two weeks ago by Christ the Redeemer’s Friends International (CRFI) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God is a case in point.

    Chief Obasanjo is famous for his strident, cocksure views on everything, from politics to religion, and from governance to theology. He has heard it said many times that he is the best president Nigeria has ever had, and he has come to fully believe it. It reached a point during his two terms in office that he began to see himself as both indispensable and infallible. Blessed with a moral universe that is in a state of permanent flux, he often finds it difficult to recognise truths from falsehoods, and treats both as indistinguishable properties in his politics and theology. So when he told his patient CRFI audience that American media mogul and founder of CNN, Ted Turner, and Ford Foundation bailed him out with $150,000 after leaving prison broke in 1998, it was not unusual that he neither saw the moral contradictions in receiving the gifts nor appreciated the poor judgement of complaining about the size of Mr Turner’s monetary gift.

    It was clear Chief Obasanjo meant his prison story ostensibly as a testimony to encourage others. It is a story he has dragged through tedious twists and repetitions that it is now almost done to death. It is a story he has treated so superficially that it is shocking that, for someone who confesses himself to be a statesman, he is unable to appreciate the deeper meanings and nuances of his prison journey. In his testimony, he said he visited Nelson Mandela to seek a validation of his intention to contest the presidency of Nigeria in 1999 after that ambitious seed was planted in him by meddlesome army generals. Seeking validation of any kind is of course not improper. Mr Mandela, one of the two eminent persons he said he met for advice, however, went into prison an activist, but emerged some 27 years later a statesman whose judgement on wide-ranging issues and knowledge of ethical leadership and leadership essentials had simply become ethereal. Chief Obasanjo’s prison journey paralleled Mr Mandela’s; the former ending with few or no lessons learnt, and the latter projecting with considerable aplomb the mystique of leadership.

    No, Chief Obasanjo was indeed flattered to have been offered the presidency of Nigeria a second, undeserving time by a coterie of forces, most of them serving and retired generals, whose calculations had nothing of the altruism or profound ideology great nations deploy to achieve a great leap forward. His trip to consult with Bishop Desmond Tutu and Mr Mandela was perfunctory. He had no idea what to do with that presidency once he claimed it, nor did his sponsors; but his mind was virtually made up to seek the prize immediately the power brokers signalled their readiness to gift him the throne. He knew he would not need to lift a finger, nor spend a dime even if he had it, nor yet agitate his brain assuming it could be coaxed into some life and activity above the bucolic rudiments he was accustomed to. As former military leaders before him indicated by their vacuous reigns, what was significant for men of Chief Obasanjo’s ilk was claiming the throne, not what to do with it.

    It is not clear what Chief Obasanjo meant by saying he left prison in 1998 broke. There was no record his extensive land holdings had been sold off completely. By the time he left office in 1979, his expansive farms and landed properties astounded many African leaders, including former Tanzanian leader, Julius Nyerere, who whispered to a confidant that Africa was in trouble with rulers like Chief Obasano retiring into such comfort after being in public service all their life. No one had the courage to inquire into Chief Obasanjo’s wealth on leaving office in 1979; it was enough that he even left, apparently of his own volition. What impoverished Chief Obasanjo during his inglorious stay in Gen. Sani Abacha’s gulag was his natural and unremitting niggardliness, his reluctance to spend as against his excessive and immoderate eagerness to acquire more. He was not generous with public funds, as indeed seems proper, but he was even less so with his own private funds. His behaviour is so objectionable that he neither mentored anyone at the philosophical level nor acquired a following by spending his wealth on anyone. If kings and princes tremble before him, it is more because of his nuisance value than any impact he has made on their lives and careers.

    It is difficult to get between a man and his God. Chief Obasanjo said he was finally persuaded to contest the 1999 presidential election after reading the biblical story of Mordecai in the Book of Esther. In vain this columnist struggled to find any correlation between him and his biblical inspiration except perhaps the most liberal reading and interpretation of the sixth chapter of that book. Even then, Chief Obasanjo’s life before and after his ascension neither mirrored the exemplariness and morality of Mordecai nor drew lessons from that famous man’s ingenuity and diligence, not to say his triumph over his enemies. Chief Obasanjo is satisfied that the life of Mordecai mirrors his own, and that that life inspired him into conceding to those who pressured him to run for the presidency. More, he is convinced that God scripted his post-prison trajectory, a fact he fondly alluded to in a book he entitled Sermon from the Prison. It, of course, does not shock him that for so ardent an evangelist, as he confesses himself to be, his life in the State House at Aso Villa, and since 2007, has reflected none of the evangelistic ardour and profound morality he claimed to profess in and out of prison.

    Nigerians, especially those in leadership positions, often deploy religion for totally selfish reasons. There is nothing anyone can say to dissuade them from cuddling their hypocrisy. It is particularly more astonishing that for Chief Obasanjo who professes so much religion, he thought nothing of leaving office in 2007 into the commodious and expensive surroundings of his Hilltop mansion and presidential library complex. He does not see a contradiction between the fundamentals of his religion and the social and political practices he engaged in while in office, including the half-truths, untruths and brazen, vexatious and malicious manipulations. In his eight years in office, he demonstrated other weaknesses and faults which by the most baffling chutzpah and indifference he managed to induct into his private theology.

    Hopefully, when next he burnishes both his image and tries to codify his deeply controversial morality, his Christian audience should exercise gentle scepticism in judging his essence both as a fellow Christian and as a national leader. In his time in and out of office, not to say his penny dreadful autobiographies, Chief Obasanjo has not contributed anything substantial to the study of leadership. Indeed, in action and reflection, he is not capable of teaching anything. By examples and precepts, Mr Mandela on the other hand proved his legend. But by his lack of examples and absence of precepts, Chief Obasanjo proved his commonplaceness. If 20 years after his first tour as head of state, and now 10 years after his second tour as president, he is still unable to appreciate the deeper issues of leadership or understand the indispensable need for reflection, his self-description as a statesman may be a hopeless exaggeration. His winding testimony before the Redeemer’s Friends International indicates clearly why he must be engaged as often as he addresses the public. But more significantly, and for a man controversially described as probably the best leader Nigeria has ever had, his testimony amplifies the reasons for Nigeria’s backwardness and the little hope Africans or even the black man has in a very complex and increasingly ruthless and competitive world.

  • Obasanjo, Adesina to present books on African development

    Two  books – Transformative “Paradigms in African Development and A Journey in African Development written by a former Vice President of the African Development Bank (AfDB),Chief Bisi Ogunjobi, is to be launched in Lagos on Thursday.

    Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, are expected to be  Special Guest of Honour and Guest of Honour respectively at the public presentation of  the books.

  • Matthew? Naaaaaaa! Call me Sege!

    What irks Matthew Olusegun Aremu Okikiolakan Obasanjo, aka Ebora Owu, otherwise known as Baba Iyabo, against his Christian name of Matthew?

    The other day, the former military head of state and two-term elected president  dared people to call him Matthew and risk seeing the red in his eye.

    That most sensational renunciation of a Christian name could well crawl into the Guinness Book of Records, as the most earth-shaking identity volcano of the year!

    What is more?  The Ebora — okunrin meta! — is bracing himself for his crowning intellectual glory, a PhD in Christian Divinity from the National Open University (NOUN).

    So, what sensational paradox would that be, a newly minted Christian scholar of the most rigorous crust, with more than a generous dose of native intelligence and street wisdom, throwing off his treasured Christian name.  What’s happening?  The end-time virus?

    In Obasanjo’s book, Matthew, the biblical tax collector turned Christian saint, was much a social fall guy as Judas Iscariot was a religious one.

    It was written: the Christ Jesus would die to save humanity.  If he didn’t, humanity would perish from sin.  But that “death” of the divine wouldn’t have been possible, without the divine decree that condemned Judas to betraying his master.  As it so happened, humanity hailed the divine gift of Christ’s death — and eternal life.  But condemned the “evil” fall guy who made that divine breakthrough possible!  Tough luck.

    In the terrestrial plain, tax is the blood which pumps the life of the state.  Without tax, what can anybody do?  How would the body of engineers Baba Iyabo was addressing even land those big public sector projects, without taxation?

    Yet, here was Obasanjo pillorying Matthew, the tax collector, in the service of the Jewish state of his day, though under Roman imperialism.  If there were no Matthews, how would that state have thrived and delivered development?

    Well, ill luck, as they say, is not transferable.  So, is the fate of Matthew the tax collector, at least in the books of the Ebora Owu.

    Well, what do we now call him, in view of this repudiation, particularly as the general seemed to suggest that he had always rejected Matthew but just chose to dramatically make it public?

    And o, by the way, no one should dare the Ebora Owu’s red eye.  In the  awesome Ebora community, the Ebora Owu is in a formidable world of his own.

    So, what do we call him?  Well, not Matthew.  Maybe Aremu.  And if that one has too much of a local feel — the other day, a former fellow soldier-turned-political-traducer dismissed him as Aremu of Ota  — why not just simply Sege?

    Trendy, even for an old man, isn’t it?  Baba Iyabo would love this.

  • Why I sacked 93 top military officers in 1999 – Obasanjo

    Why I sacked 93 top military officers in 1999 – Obasanjo

    Former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo says  his decision to retire 93 top military officers on his assumption of office  in 1999 has gone a long way in  saving  and stabilizing  the nation’s democracy.

    Obasanjo branded the move as a kind of engineering in politics, pointing out that the mass retirement was inevitable  on account of the  lavish life style of some  top military men in the corridor of power.

    He spoke at his 80th birthday celebration organized by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in Abuja at the weekend.

    The former president also warned people from referring to him again as Matthew, a name he said he dropped a long time ago.

    He said: “If anyone does not want to see my red eyes, don’t call me Matthew again.”

    He said that  moving people from one position to another could be a blessing in disguise, citing the examples of former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Barnabas Gemade .

    Oyinlola was military administrator of Lagos during the Abacha regime and was one of those affected by the Obasanjo purge while Gemade lost his position as PDP chairman in a move believed to have been sanctioned by the ex-president.

    Obasanjo said the development has not affected his relationship with both men because to him, Nigeria comes first in everything.

    He said: “Talking about engineering in politics, when I got into office as elected president, I got 93 officers of the armed forces out of the military because they were used to what is called the chummy chummy life in government house, and if I had left them in the military they would have been the ones that would have created more problems for us and our democratic dispensation would not have lasted as it has.

    “Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola was one of the 93 officers, but in everything in life there may be a silver lining. If he hadn’t been out at the time he may never have been governor. If Senator Gemade had not been kicked out as chairman he would never have become a senator, but I’m happy that I was looking for perfection and what is best for Nigeria.

    “Gemade is my friend and is still a friend and will remain a friend, but when it comes to Nigeria even with the best of my friends, Nigeria will come first. And for that I have no apology and I will have no apology for that.”

     

  • Obasanjo and lessons not learnt

    Obasanjo and lessons not learnt

    FORMER president Olusegun Obasanjo was characteristically blunt and scathing last Tuesday when he tried to justify the retirement of military officers who were described in 1999, when he assumed office, as politically exposed. His remarks were made at the public presentation of a book on the late Brig.-Gen. Zakariya Maimalari. Probably touched by the presence of the son of the subject of the book, Lt.-Col. Abubakar Maimalari (retd.), a former military administrator himself who was swept away in the gale that affected politically exposed officers, Chief Obasanjo said he needed to explain why he took that step, but would not apologise for it.

    Said Chief Obasanjo, apparently turning to the younger Maimalari: “I have no apology, but I have explanations; it is because it is necessary to stop the sort of thing that took the life of your father prematurely that I had to take decision that all those who have tasted of power that they should never have tasted…while they were soldiers; that we should ease them out of the army so that we can have an army that will be completely free from political aberration.”

    Assured that he did the right thing at the time, the former president explained further: “And so far, since 1999, I think we seem to have got it right. Let us hope that we will continue to get it right and learn the right lessons that Nigeria has had enough sacrifices by those victims; that Nigeria deserves peace, unity and democracy. And may the sacrifices of the life of Brig. Zak Maimalari be sufficient to give this country peace, development, unity and progress.”

    Other than cursory statements, some so sweeping as to be lacking in scientific rationalisation, no study has yet been done to examine or find a correlation between the retirement of the officers and the so-called stability Nigerian democracy enjoys. Chief Obasanjo, as usual, is not incommoded by scientific rigour. He believes in what he did, as specious and fallacious as it might be, and he will continue to justify it. He will always close his eyes to other factors that explain the delicate stability of democracy in Nigeria. Sadly, in 1999, given the general frustrations with military rule, no one was willing to oppose Chief Obasanjo’s drastic and sentimental measures, whether they made sense or not.

    It is hard, however, to laud a process that presumed to anticipate a future crime and then proceed to punish the suspect based on a crime he is believed to be capable of committing. Neither the laws of the land nor the constitution, nor yet military laws of any kind under which the retired officers were punished, gave Chief Obasanjo the power to summarily retire the officers. The tragedy of 1999 was that the truncation of the military careers of the said officers was not challenged in court. Had it been challenged, it is doubtful whether a court could be found to justify the measure, whether on the pretext of saving the republic or on the excuse of averting a future crime.

    More importantly, the measure was characteristic of Chief Obasanjo’s superficial and abrasive style of judging others without the accompanying tinge of remorse or retrospection that many great leaders find invaluable in coming to terms with the pangs of conscience. The measure, not to talk of the lack of remorse at truncating many otherwise fine careers, open a window into the dark and simplistic minds of African leaders who scorn scientific and analytical tools in formulating policies for the day after tomorrow.

  • Nigeria needs mindset change, not restructuring – Obasanjo

    Nigeria needs mindset change, not restructuring – Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday disagreed with those calling for the restructuring of Nigeria, saying the same social crises bedeviling the country would persist in a restructured country associated with injustice, impunity and bad governance.

    Obasanjo, who was guest of the Chairman of Lee Engineering and Construction Company Limited, Chief Leemon Ikpea, spoke at the palace of the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Ikenwoli, in Warri.

    The ex- President said he sees nothing wrong with a united Nigeria.

    Reacting to a speech delivered on behalf of the monarch by Chief Brown Mene, during the reception organized in his honour, Obasanjo commended the Itsekiri people for their perseverance and decision to stand against any divisive agitation, despite their complaints against marginalisation and demand for better treatment and equity.

    He restated his believe that the country’s problems could be resolved through dialogue and negotiations and not through secession.

    Obasanjo said: “I believe that we can solve all our problems through dialogue, engagement, discussion and conversation. As you rightly remarked, I participated in the civil war and I said never again will I participate in any civil war again in my life.

    “It was gruesome, it was destructive and it was deadly. The people who are now clamouring for whatever they are clamouring for don’t even know what war means. They don’t. Anybody who has seen the devastation of war, the destruction of war and the mindlessness of war will never want to see a war again and may we never have another war again.

    “The answer to most of our problems is mindset change and change of mentally. If we need any restructuring, it is the restructuring of our mindset and mentality. How will anybody in his right senses believe separation is the way out?

    “We have passed that stage. We have problems, there are many ways we can solve them. It is our diversity that makes us a great country. I won’t want a Nigeria where we dance same juju, or wear same attire. Our strength is in our diversity.

    “Some progress is being made in spite of our difficulties and problems, we need to make greater progress than we have made before. If we do that we’ll have good governance, there’ll be no impunity, everybody will have a sense of belonging and a stake in this project called Nigeria. Nothing is wrong with Nigeria, rather a lot is wrong with Nigerians. We need to correct what is wrong with Nigerians. Some of us have to speak up because if things are wrong and you don’t speak up, then you have become an accomplice.

    “Dismemberment of Nigeria is not good enough. Harmony and cohesion in Nigeria is what we should substitute for dismemberment. Inequity, injustice or unfairness are not good enough, we should substitute them with equity, fairness, good government and lack of impunity.”

     

     

  • Nigerians need attitudinal change, says Obasanjo

    Nigerians need attitudinal change, says Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has argued that agitation for secession and restructuring will not achieve the desire results unless a positive renewal of people’s mindset is instituted.

    Obasanjo spoke as the special guest of honour at the opening of King’s Celia Hotels and Suites, Jibowu, Yaba – a monument in honour of the late Dr. Kingsley Ozumba and the late Cecilia Mbadiwe.

    He berated the idea of secession, saying past attempts were fruitless, inconsequential and a weak way of tackling issues.

    Eulogising the late patriots as nationalists, who invested commitment and strong belief in the service of Nigeria, Obasanjo said truce would only be brokered in the national polity, if governance was modelled in ensuring every segment of the country holds a stake in paddling its affairs.

    ”I don’t believe that there is anything wrong in Nigeria, but  there is a lot wrong with  Nigerians. If I could get a magic wand and make one wish for Nigeria, I would say God should decarbonise our head and change our mentality.

    ‘It doesn’t matter how much restructuring we do; if our mentality remain what it is today, all the restructuring will not lead us anywhere.  It doesn’t matter what true federalism you do, nothing will change unless we Nigerians do. If anywhere in Nigeria today we are still talking about secession, something is wrong with us that needs to be corrected, not Nigeria. The way we handle our problems is not the issue of Nigeria but of us, who manage the affairs of Nigeria. Should that lead to secession?

    “I fought in the civil war and I would say I have fought one war too many because at the end, what did we achieve that we could not achieve without firing a single bullet?”

    But the Chairman of the occasion, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, disagreed, saying a holistic restructuring of the nation’s blueprint and reversal to true federalism was the way forward.

    He said: “The country is now clearly more divided than it has ever been and seems less likely to realise its potentials. This why a growing number of us have been advocating the restructuring of the governance architecture of the country in order to  return to true federalism that has served us and return to fewer and more viable federating units.

    “In addition to the resultant benefit is that the whole country will be duly served.”

    Anyaoku hailed the significant contribution of Ozumba to the independence struggle,  describing him as “a wordsmith for grandiloquent influence of the English lexicon”.

    Chairman of the hotel’s Board of Directors, Greg Ozumba Mbadiwe, said the  edifice was a product of 25years plan to immortalise his late parents for their promotion of people-oriented values and patriotism. According to him, Nigeria has nothing to benefit from splitting up what some heroes fought for.