January 20, 2010
Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, today in Abuja urged his successor, the ailing Umaru Yar’Adua, to choose the path of honour and morality since he can no longer serve the Nigerian people. He was speaking at the 7th Annual Trust Lecture in response to a member of the audience who accused him of being responsible for the present constitutional crisis by choosing a sick man to succeed him as president. “What I need to say is that nobody picked Yar’Adua so that he will not perform,” he said, specifically, then swore: “If I did that, God will punish me. There is no reason why I should do that.”
Obasanjo then publicly delivered very strong words to Yar’Adua” “If you take up an assignment, a job-elected, appointed whatever it is, and then your health starts to fail and you will not be able to deliver to satisfy yourself and to satisfy the people you are supposed to serve, then there is a path of honour and the path of morality. There is path of honour and the path of morality and if you don’t do that, then you don’t know anything.”
Obasanjo’s new position is different from what he demonstrated two weeks ago when confronted by journalists at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos about critical national issues, including Yar’Adua. He joked and laughed every question away, showing neither interest nor urgency.
This morning, apparently under pressure, he denied he deliberately foisted Yar’Adua on Nigeria, using the name of God to drum up some credibility. Nigerians would recall that in 2001, Obasanjo similarly used the name of God while denying he knew anything about Babangida’s stolen wealth.
Below is the unedited response Obasanjo made to his questioner this morning:
“When in year 2006, the idea came up as to succession; I was convinced in my mind that a Southerner succeeding me will not augur well for Nigeria. You may agree with that, you may not agree. I was convinced in my mind. Now, was looking for those who will succeed me who has three important qualities. One, he has enough intellectual capacity to run the affairs of Nigeria. Two, he has sufficient personal integrity to run the affairs of Nigeria. Three, he is sufficiently broad minded enough-politically, religiously, socially, whatever to manage the affairs of Nigeria. These three were the important things. Then Umoru Yar’Adua who is now the President, I know he has kidney problem and was under dialysis. Sometimes earlier, he has gone abroad when he was still the Governor of Katsina State.
When the idea was for him to contest, I asked him and he gave me a medical report. The medical report shows that he has come off dialysis. I asked experts who then told me that if you were under dialysis or you were on dialysis and you are no longer under dialysis, it means you have had a successful kidney transplant and that you can live for as long as God may give you favour. Now, who am I and who are you not to accept that? That was the situation. Now, Mallam Musa Yar’Adua went campaigning and we campaigned together. I remember at one day of the campaign, he was run down. Chairman of our party then, Ahmadu Ali was also run down. Ahmadu Ali didn’t go abroad to check up, but he went abroad to check up and the rumour was that he was dead. And I called him and I put the telephone on speaker and I said, Are you dead? And we continued with the campaign.
To the best of my knowledge, he wasn’t on dialysis after that. When the issue of dialysis came, he was well into his first term (as president) which must maybe the kidney transplant is failing, if it hasn’t failed. That you cannot blame on me. You cannot even blame it on him. So, to say that I, Olusegun Obasanjo deliberately see somebody who is an invalid and..is highly, highly ungrateful... how can I put so much into this country both in peace and in war and I will begin to run it down. If you have fear of God, you will not make that statement. On the way out of the constitutional crisis, what I needed to say on that, I have said as the Chairman of my Board of Trustees last week. I won’t say anything more. What I need to say is that nobody picked Yar’Adua so that he will not perform. If I did that, God will punish me. There is no reason why I should do that. Again, if you take up an assignment, a job-elected, appointed whatever it is, and then your heath start to fail and you will not be able to deliver to satisfy yourself and to satisfy the people you are supposed to serve, then there is a path of honour and the path of morality. There is path of honour and the path of morality and if you don’t do that, then you don’t know anything.”
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