I Won’t Sacrifice My Life For Any Party — Ex- Nigerian President Obasanjo
Nigeria’s former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has vowed not to sacrifice his life for the any interest of any party, but for Nigeria ...
http://www.africaeagle.com/2015/01/i-wont-sacrifice-my-life-for-any-party.html
Nigeria’s former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has vowed not to sacrifice his life for the any interest of any party, but for Nigeria only.
Obasanjo had, last Monday, when he hosted some women leaders from the South-West zone, stated that he would sacrifice his life for Nigeria to remain one indivisible entity.
He said this on Wednesday, while playing host to the presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Mr Martins Onovo, who paid him a visit at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The former president insisted that he would never close his eyes against anything that would not be in the best interest of the nation, while maintaining that he remained a card- carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He said he would not keep quiet about issues concerning the country, saying “every Nigerian is a stakeholder and must speak up when things are getting out of hand.”
He said; “In this part of the world, we have a saying that if people sleep and they put their heads on the same pillow, they are in danger and that means there should be some people that should be critically looking and watching and also be able to speak up when they should speak up.
“No matter what others may say, because people may come up and say Nigeria doesn’t belong to anybody, I believe that is a stupid saying, Nigeria belongs to all of us because anything that doesn’t belong to anybody, anything can happen to it, for me Nigeria belongs to all of us and we are stakeholders in this country.
“Let me make my own position clear, I am a card -carrying member of PDP because that is the party on which platform I became the president of this country.
“My first pre-occupation is what is best for Nigeria, Nigeria first, party second and any other thing third. Nigeria first means I’ll sacrifice anything for the interest of Nigeria and I can sacrifice my own life for the interest of Nigeria. I can’t sacrifice my life for the interest of a party, I’ll sacrifice my life for the interest of Nigeria.”
The former president extolled the virtues of the founder of NCP, the late Human Rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, describing him as a genuine social critic.
Obasanjo enjoined Onovo to follow the footsteps of the late Fawehinmi,whom he said, was a man of integrity and honour.
“Let me hasten to wish you every success in your endeavour and also pay tribute, as I have done in my recent book, to the founder of your party, Gani Fawehinmi, I believe he was a genuine social critic. You may not agree with all he said or how he went about it,but he was definitely a genuine social critic.
“So, if you, as the standard-bearer of the party he founded believed that, you should follow his footstep of integrity and genuine critical analysis and objective criticism of the situation in the country, I think nobody will fault you.
“If what you’re trying to do is in the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians accepted and voted for you, who am I not to accept you as president of Nigeria, I will. But what I want you to do is to use your campaign to inform, woo and to convince the electorate,’’ he stated.
whatever may be the outcome of the election after you have done all that, once the election is free and fair and undisturbed, uninterrupted, then you have to accept the verdict of the people.
“If you are in government and you are doing what is right and you are given good governance, you can do a lot of things to a lot of people, but you don’t have to necessarily be in government to serve your people, you can still do it, the founder of your party was never in any government and yet, he served the people of this country,” he added.
Onovo in his remarks also lamented the current socio-economic situation of the country and leadership failure.
He added that Nigeria needs people with vision, passion and commitment to national development and not those who are passive in all their deeds.
Onovo said, “We think that Nigeria needs a fundamental change and not superficial change, that’s our view and we’ve decided to come and tell you our mission in politics. What we are here to do and how we intend doing it and to seek your blessings for the efforts we are making.
“Our programme is designed to lead to the abolition of poverty through full employment, improve health care and electricity supply and energy which is very critical to industrial development.
“We are very aware that you did very few critical things in government when you were there? and some of those we wish to continue when we get to office particularly the anti-corruption efforts, EFCC, ICPC, we intend to continue.”
Source: Nigerian Tribune
Obasanjo had, last Monday, when he hosted some women leaders from the South-West zone, stated that he would sacrifice his life for Nigeria to remain one indivisible entity.
He said this on Wednesday, while playing host to the presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Mr Martins Onovo, who paid him a visit at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The former president insisted that he would never close his eyes against anything that would not be in the best interest of the nation, while maintaining that he remained a card- carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He said he would not keep quiet about issues concerning the country, saying “every Nigerian is a stakeholder and must speak up when things are getting out of hand.”
He said; “In this part of the world, we have a saying that if people sleep and they put their heads on the same pillow, they are in danger and that means there should be some people that should be critically looking and watching and also be able to speak up when they should speak up.
“No matter what others may say, because people may come up and say Nigeria doesn’t belong to anybody, I believe that is a stupid saying, Nigeria belongs to all of us because anything that doesn’t belong to anybody, anything can happen to it, for me Nigeria belongs to all of us and we are stakeholders in this country.
“Let me make my own position clear, I am a card -carrying member of PDP because that is the party on which platform I became the president of this country.
“My first pre-occupation is what is best for Nigeria, Nigeria first, party second and any other thing third. Nigeria first means I’ll sacrifice anything for the interest of Nigeria and I can sacrifice my own life for the interest of Nigeria. I can’t sacrifice my life for the interest of a party, I’ll sacrifice my life for the interest of Nigeria.”
The former president extolled the virtues of the founder of NCP, the late Human Rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, describing him as a genuine social critic.
Obasanjo enjoined Onovo to follow the footsteps of the late Fawehinmi,whom he said, was a man of integrity and honour.
“Let me hasten to wish you every success in your endeavour and also pay tribute, as I have done in my recent book, to the founder of your party, Gani Fawehinmi, I believe he was a genuine social critic. You may not agree with all he said or how he went about it,but he was definitely a genuine social critic.
“So, if you, as the standard-bearer of the party he founded believed that, you should follow his footstep of integrity and genuine critical analysis and objective criticism of the situation in the country, I think nobody will fault you.
“If what you’re trying to do is in the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians accepted and voted for you, who am I not to accept you as president of Nigeria, I will. But what I want you to do is to use your campaign to inform, woo and to convince the electorate,’’ he stated.
whatever may be the outcome of the election after you have done all that, once the election is free and fair and undisturbed, uninterrupted, then you have to accept the verdict of the people.
“If you are in government and you are doing what is right and you are given good governance, you can do a lot of things to a lot of people, but you don’t have to necessarily be in government to serve your people, you can still do it, the founder of your party was never in any government and yet, he served the people of this country,” he added.
Onovo in his remarks also lamented the current socio-economic situation of the country and leadership failure.
He added that Nigeria needs people with vision, passion and commitment to national development and not those who are passive in all their deeds.
Onovo said, “We think that Nigeria needs a fundamental change and not superficial change, that’s our view and we’ve decided to come and tell you our mission in politics. What we are here to do and how we intend doing it and to seek your blessings for the efforts we are making.
“Our programme is designed to lead to the abolition of poverty through full employment, improve health care and electricity supply and energy which is very critical to industrial development.
“We are very aware that you did very few critical things in government when you were there? and some of those we wish to continue when we get to office particularly the anti-corruption efforts, EFCC, ICPC, we intend to continue.”
Source: Nigerian Tribune
