No Intimidation, Threat Will Force Me To Abandon Clamour For Better Nigeria -Obasanjo
Emphasising that no right-thinking Nigerian would applaud the current situation in the country, Obasanjo maintained that should the citizens failed on their part to act together as they ought to, Nigeria may not be what it should be come the year 2019.
The former president stated this while addressing the 30-man delegation of Bafarawa Presidential Campaign Organisation (BPCO) led by the former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa who paid a visit to him at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.
Noting that none of those who love Nigeria would want it to remain as it is today, Obasanjo also declared that he was ready to make more personal sacrifices towards making Nigeria better like he had done
The former president also said that he would throw his weight behind any presidential candidate who has track records of integrity, diligence, humility and not engrossed in nepotism.
He saluted the courage of Bafarawa for aspiring to rule the country, saying the former governor achieved a lot in Sokoto by listening to his advice and cooperating with him as president.
This, he added, made him to visit Sokoto State 14 times to unveil projects.
“There are three attributes I want to see in a leader which I saw in you- one, his diligence, humility and you discriminate in terms of people who work with you and most of the times you listen to advice. One important issue is that Nigeria in its entirety is paramount to you”.
“All we achieved together was because we cooperated together and because we worked together. And when we even disagreed, we genuinely did so. Not for selfish reasons, not on basis of corruption or misconduct. Where we see things differently we explain to ourselves and if we cannot reconcile, each of us held to his point.
“The situation of Nigeria today is not the one any right thinking Nigerian should applaud. And my own strong belief is that Nigeria deserves better than we have now. And we can get better than what we have. So, yours is to see what you can do, that is why you are aspiring to make Nigeria better than what it is today.
“Nobody who loves Nigeria will not want it to better than what it is today. I, definitely, have made personal sacrifices and I will make again. Talk of fighting in the war front and shedding of blood, or even talk of going to prison, because I believe in democracy; I went to prison for doing nothing wrong.
“I have also been intimidated and threatened, what would you do to intimidate somebody like me? Whatever you are trying to do to me, people have tried to do them to me in the past and it amounted to nothing and it will amount to nothing because before I act, I pray to God to guide me and I think of Nigeria first, particularly majority of Nigerians who are underprivileged, whose situation we need to improve upon.
“Talk of education, if we want to lift up the people of this country, everybody must be educated and have access to education. The gap in education has closed a little bit from what it was in 1999, but it hasn’t closed enough. So, if we have problem in the Northeast, it speaks for itself because education has implication for almost everything: infant mortality, life expectancy and employment.
“So if there is such a wide gap, you can understand why North East is the home of Boko Haram”.
How would I say that I will not support anyone who wants to improve the situation of Nigeria? How would I say that anybody who does not feel satisfied with the situation of Nigeria should not be encouraged? How would I say that anyone who believes strongly that Nigeria can be better than what it is and believes that it is a collective responsibility, I will not support?
“But there must be a leader that will lead the team and leadership is not easy. If we do not act together as we should act together, Nigeria will not be what it should be come year 2019.
“Aspiration? Yes, but the objective must be clear. If the opposition starts going in different directions and pulling in different ways, Nigeria situation will not change. A population of 200 million, for us to continue to complain that things are not right, we are doing this same thing like we have done before. And if we keep doing the same thing, the result will not be different. If we want a different result, we must do things differently. And I believe we can do things differently”.
Speaking earlier, former governor Bafarawa, said he decided to visit Obasanjo to seek his prayers, advice and support for his presidential aspiration.
He disclosed that as a governor between 1999 and 2007, he was able to save and leave N11.8b in the coffers of the state, courtesy of the then president’s advice.
He however, noted that the former president institutionalised the fight against corruption by establishing the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offence Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), saying “anybody talking about fight against corruption without mentioning Obasanjo is erroneous”.
