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Against the backdrop of insinuations in political circles that former
President Olusegun Obasanjo has endorsed Governors Sule Lamido and
Rotimi Amaechi of Jigawa and Rivers states respectively as President and
Vice President in 2015 elections, Special Adviser on Political Matters
to the President, Mr. Ahmed Gulak yesterday warned the former
president to desist from dabbling into the political future of
President Goodluck Jonathan but to join hand with him in delivering his
electoral promises to Nigerians. Obasanjo has, however, denied working
towards installing anyone in the next polls, saying he has been
pre-occupied with more pressing national issues such as security,
poverty, malaria, polio and infant and maternal mortality, to have time
for politics.
Governor Amaechi had also denied he was running with Lamido, while
some northern groups had received the news of Lamido’s choice with
jubilation.
Gulak, who handed down the warning in an exclusive interview with Vanguard in Abuja, asked Obasanjo to stop distracting the president by unnecessarily stirring the political waters.
The 27 Local Government Areas in Jigawa State are reported to have
burst into dancing and singing when the news of the governor’s
consideration for the nation’s top job, filtered into Dutse, the state
capital on Monday.
Jonathan’s political adviser, who was apparently irked by the
development, said it was unfortunate for the former President to be
involved in the alleged endorsement of the two serving governors, when
there was a sitting President and leader of the party.
Gulak said, “If it is true that Obasanjo is fronting Lamido and
Amaechi for 2015, I assume it is not true, I would say that he has his
own right. But the question is in what capacity would he do that?
“Is it as the father of the nation or the President of Nigeria or
what? First, Obasanjo is not the president of Nigeria and secondly,
although he is one of our leaders, nobody has arrogated the monopoly of
anointing candidates to him.
“Having said that, if it is true that Obasanjo has done what has been
credited to him, then it is safe to say that he is not fair to this
country and I believe that what this country needs to do is to deliver
on the promises made to the electorate in 2011″.
“Obasanjo was part of the system from 1976 to 1979 and then from 1999
to 2007. Obasanjo should play the role of a father-figure, to advise
and not to keep on pock- nosing into the affairs of the nation by
choosing people who should run and who should not.
“He had played his role, everybody gave him their support. One good
turn deserves another. It is therefore incumbent on him to support
President Goodluck Jonathan to deliver on his electoral promises to the
people and not to distract the system by stirring the political waters
unnecessarily.
“When we reach the bridge we shall cross it. But we are only in 2012,
just one year after the last election. Are we therefore telling
Nigerians that everything is just about election? Why are we relegating
to the background our promises to the nation?” Gulak queried angrily.
Turning to some northern elders said to be opposed to the re-election
of President Jonathan in 2015 as prescribed by law, Gulak described the
call as the ‘greatest joke of the century’, saying that nobody had the
right to stop the President from contesting if he decides to do so in
2015.
According to him, “President Jonathan has that constitutional right
and nobody can abridge it; it is left for him to decide whether to
contest or not. But no individual, group or institution can take away
that right if we agree we are running a constitutional and democratic
government.
“It is his right to run or not. No individual or group has the right
to warn President Jonathan not to aspire to lead the nation as provided
by the law of the land. You can’t ask him not to pick the party’s
nomination form.
“Nobody can intimidate President Goodluck Jonathan; absolutely nobody
because by the grace of God, he is the president of Nigeria. The fact
that the man is simple, humble and does not abuse executive powers like
some of our past leaders does not mean that he is weak,” he declared.
The political aide also took on former FCT Minister, Malam Nasir
el-Rufai and former parliamentarian, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, for recently
asking Jonathan to resign over his inability to solve the nation’s
rising security challenges, saying that they were not fit to speak for
the north.
Obasanjo denies 2015 plot
Meanwhile, apparently worried by the furore triggered by his
endorsement of two serving governors to vie for the Presidency come
2015, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday denied working
towards installing anyone in the next polls.
Obasanjo said he was preoccupied with more pressing national issues to
have time for politics, enumerating such challenges to include
national security, poverty, malaria, polio and infant and maternal
mortality.
The former President in a statement made available to Vanguard by his
media aide, Garba Deen Muhammed, said however that he recognised the
rights and privileges all Nigerians including the two governors who were
mentioned as having been endorsed by him, to vie for any office of
their choice in the country.
He pointed out that although individuals might aspire to any office of
their choice; it is the political party that eventually determines who
flies its flag.
Obasanjo pleaded with Nigerians to be mindful of the present
challenges the nation was passing through and to contribute their quota
towards finding lasting solutions rather than speculating on an
election that is still far away.
He took exception to the statement credited to the former Oyo State
Governor, Lam Adesina, to the effect that the former president’s battled
against corruption was deceitful and cited the award of contract for
the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as an example of corrupt practice.
Part of the statement read, “Former President Obasanjo feels it was
sad and unfortunate that at his age, Lam Adesina would make statements
that can only ridicule him and make nonsense of his elderly status.
“It is self-evident that no government after former President Obasanjo
has fought corruption with the same commitment as his regime. It is
equally self-evident that the institutions for fighting corruption that
the country relies on today were set up by the Obasanjo regime,
likewise some of the individuals manning those institutions today were
nurtured by the same Obasanjo regime that Adesina so mischievously
described as “deceitful”.
“Lam Adesina’s attribution of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway contract to
the Obasanjo regime shows how puerile, or perhaps how senile the former
governor has become. The contract in question was not awarded by the
Obasanjo regime. It was in fact awarded after Chief Obasanjo had left
office.
“As for the oft-repeated issue of the amount purported to have been
misappropriated in the power sector during the regime of Obasanjo, it is
significant that today, it is those who made those false allegations
against former President Obasanjo regime that are being prosecuted for
corruption. Interestingly the current power reform that is now being
pursued was laid down by the Obasanjo regime.
“If Adesina was not consumed by the wicked desire to cast aspersions
on former President Obasanjo, he would have known these simple details
and would not have ridiculed himself by making the pedestrian comments
he made.
“Adesina would put his elderly years to better use by telling the
people of Oyo state how many jobs he created while in office, what
environmental policies he developed that would have prevented the tragic
incidence of flooding plaguing Oyo state, how many kilometres of road
he built, how many poor people he helped to own their own houses, etc,
rather than peddling lies in the quest for relevance.
“ Obasanjo remains one of the world’s most respected statesmen of all
times. No amount of slander and false accusations can change that,” he
said.
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