FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday warned against any military intervention in the affairs of the country for whatever reason.
Reacting to rumour that this Saturday’s presidential election might result in confusion and consequently lead to military take over, Obasanjo said such an action would undermine the integrity of Nigeria among the comity of nations.
He spoke when the South-West women of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) led by the wife of the party’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Hajia Aisha Buhari, paid him a courtesy visit at his Abeokuta Hilltop residence.
Obasanjo, who said he was happy that Nigeria had gone beyond the rumour of Interim National Government (ING) and that he hoped the country would also “survive the rumour of handing over to the military”, said the intentional community, especially the African Union (AU), would not accommodate or recognise any government that emerges outside the constitution of the country.
According to him, Nigeria has all it takes to dictate the pace for other countries in Africa, adding that Nigerians should blame themselves for where “it is today.”
He said: “I do hope we will get things more right. A lot of rumours are flying around, I think we have gone away from the rumour of interim government because that is not in our Constitution. I hope we will soon go away from the rumour of handing over to the military because the military is not meant to run affairs of a nation in terms of running government.”
Obasanjo, who also bemoaned hatred campaigns among the political parties, said they should focus more on what unite the country against what divide the country.
According to him, for anyone who is interested in the future of this country, issues of insecurity, economy, employment, among others, should form the focus of the campaigns of political parties.
He, however, called on women to play active role in a better Nigeria, saying: “I am happy to hear directly from you Mrs. Buhari that the campaign so far, from the assessment has gone very well. May be I should say one or two things about campaign. I do hope that whatever happens at the elections, the one coming this week and the one coming couple of weeks after that, that we would have learnt the right lessons from what has taken place this time around.
“Unfortunately, issues that should have been the main item of our campaign, they did not. We have serious issues of security, we have serious issue of our economy, we have issue of unemployment, particularly youths’ unemployment, we have serious issues of infrastructure, these are issues that campaign of those who are interested in the present and future of this country should be directed at.
Speaking earlier, Mrs. Buhari thanked Obasanjo for being a true nationalist, adding that he (Obasanjo) acted beyond party level while solving issues affecting the country.
She said: “Baba exercises his prowess as a father. As a former head of state of Nigeria twice, very few Nigerians have the opportunity to rule the country twice. We are here today to show our appreciation for the way you handled things as a statesman and also a nationalist.
“We thank you so much for acting beyond party in getting things right. Thank you for that, may you live long to continue solving out problems.”
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