Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday in Lagos, restated that he had forgiven Alhaji Abubakar based on instructions he received from God, directing who were not pleased with the step he had since taken to go and challenge God why he should give him such instruction.
Obasanjo who spoke at the 2019 Quarterly Island Club Business Lecture said that he remained a human being like every other person and not a saint or a pretender, described Atiku as the incoming president and the right person for the office, giving his experience, level of exposure and the various lessons he had learnt to made him deliver a true change for the country.
Former President Obasanjo restated that he since forgiven Alhaji Abubakar, but said even with the action, he had been called names by some people.
However, while maintaining that everything he had not retracted and I stood firmly by everything he had said about the former president “because they are to the best of my knowledge true,” Obasanjo contended that “neither has what I have said and written about Buhari been controverted, if anything, they have been confirmed and proved beyond any shadow of doubt.”
“But Atiku has done three things which are absolutely imperative for a leader to be followed and believed. First, know who you are and present yourself as you are- a human being in blood and flesh and susceptible to human mistakes and human frailties. Don’t cover up with sanctimonious veneer of bogus integrity, incorruptibility, uprightness, goodness and false figures and statistics, all of which are contrived to deceive, to cheat, to plunder and to destroy.
“Atiku never claimed to be a saint and I never described him as such. I will never so describe any human being alive let alone calling him a Messiah. On an occasion in the past when I said that someone was not a Messiah, some Nigerians out of bad belle were up in arms. For me, as a Christian, the only Messiah I know and have is Jesus Christ and even then, the man aspect of Him was imperfect while the divine aspect of Him was perfectly messianic.
“Secondly, a leader must be honest to himself and to the people he serves or he wants to serve. He must identify and acknowledge his situation, mistakes, shortcomings and inadequacy; show remorse where and when he has erred, seek forgiveness and repent; and not passing the bulk or keep blaming others and fail to accept responsibility. Atiku accepts responsibility for his mistakes, shows remorse and seeks forgiveness from his political party and subsequently from Nigerians.
“He asks for forgiveness from me and as a believer, a Christian as such, I forgave him in accordance with the teaching and instruction of my Saviour, ‘For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matt 6:14-15 NIV). If anybody blames me for forgiving Atiku, I leave such a person with God Almighty, especially as both Christian and Islamic clerics joined Atiku to visit me to seek forgiveness. Anybody who does not forgive when forgiveness is sought with contrite heart cannot be a true believer and should not expect the forgiveness of God.
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“Thirdly, as a leader, you must understand the fundamentals of the problems you have to solve and be courageous, visionary and ready to reach out sufficiently to build a credible team of experts, knowledgeable men and women, concerned and interested citizens and non-citizens to work hard and tirelessly for solutions that will benefit all Nigerians and indeed Africans and humanity.
“He must have ability to build a credible team, lead them, listen to them and give them enough leeway to achieve and make meaningful contribution without abdicating his responsibility. He must be accessible to them. From my personal knowledge of Atiku, he has these qualities.
“I must reiterate that Atiku is not a saint and who is? But from what I know of Atiku, he will be a performer in all respects. I can say that again from my personal experience. He knows the problems and he handled some of them or similar and in the past,” Obasanjo said.
The former president, however, said even though both Buhari and Abubakar had issues, but judging both of them empirically and for the task at hand, Atiku would perform much better than Buhari and would seek for good and able people around the country and beyond to make them to deliver for the general good of Nigerians and the country.
“We now know that both Buhari and Atiku have issues and all of us as human beings have one issue or the other in different magnitude but judging both of them empirically and for the task at hand, Atiku will perform much better than Buhari and he will seek for good and able people around the country and beyond and make use of them to achieve his mission and vision for the general good of Nigerians and the country.
“He will be a team leader but will not allow the seizure of his mandate by a cabal. A system to prevent impunity and ‘I can do what I like’ attitude and action must be put in place for all concerned. It is more than check and balance, rather it is for the good of all stakeholders and equity-holders,” he said.
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Speaking further, Obasanjo said: “One of the most ridiculous claims I have heard on these issues is that I did not give Atiku chance to preside over the Federal Executive Council because I did not trust him.
“That was not correct because he had occasions to preside on a few times that I was out of the country on duty. On those occasions he was in charge of the Federal Executive Council meetings. And no Nigerian Chief Executive has devolved to his deputy as much as I did to Atiku.
“I did not need to designate him Acting President because the Constitution is clear, once the President is not available, the Vice-President automatically acts with full powers and he consults where and if he considers it necessary.
“But since I was not absent from home for 104 days at a time, people may not know that Atiku actually stood in for me whenever I was out.”
The former president, therefore, thanked the Island Club chairma for the opportunity, saying he felt “delighted to be here again not only as a Patron as I used to visit in the past but also as a supporter of a future Patron.”
Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said he would take practical steps to reposition the country’s economy, promising restore investor confidence, if elected into office.
This was just as he advocated a strong economy that is capable of providing in the next five years a minimum of three million job opportunities annually, reducing poverty rates to below 20per cent and significantly closing the income inequality gaps.
The former vice president lamented that the country’s democracy was currently in peril following unsuccessful attempts by President Muhammadu Buhari led government to remove the leadership of the National Assembly and had now turned it’s sight on the judiciary.
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Speaking to the topic of the lecture, “Atiku Abubakar: My Vision To Get Nigeria Working Again,” the PDP presidential candidate, Abubakar, whose membership no is 7070, lamented that the unfavourable policies of the present government over the past four years had created uncertainties in the economy and, therefore, eroded investor’s confidence in the economy, resulting in capital importation.
“We will restore confidence in the Nigerian economy. We will implement policies to drive growth.
“We all know that over the last four years, the actions and inactions of the Federal Government, have resulted in a significant drop in investor’s confidence in the economy,” he said.
“As a result, there has been significant decline in capital importation since the regime came into power in 2015,” he added, noting that the neighbouring Ghana, which today had 14per cent of Nigeria’s population, attracts more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) than Nigeria.
“Today, Ghana-a country with just 14per cent of our population -attracts more Foreign Direct Investment than Nigeria,” Abubakar said.
He contended that to reverse the ugly trend, the country’s economic policies would have to be more coherent, consistent and therefore more predictable by the business community, saying that nothing could be more threatening to investment flows than an environment that was full of policy flip-flops.
The PDP presidential hopeful, while reeling out components in his #The Atiku Plan for the economy, promised to create an environment for a strong, productive, pro-growth private sector to create job opportunities and fight poverty.
The former vice president further promised that his government would constantly engage the private sector in policy-design and policy implementation as was the practice when he served under the regime of former President Obasanjo, even as he sadly remarked that the present government was not doing that and, therefore, the poor economic reality that was confronting the country today.
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Speaking further, Alhaji Abubakar restated his resolve to liberalise the economic space and privatise all the ailing public enterprises, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
“The #AtikuPlan will undertake a de-regulation of the downstream sector of the economy, review the PIB and privatise all four state refineries that operate less than 10per cent of their installed capacities.
“We shall channel the proceeds from the privatisation into a special fund for the development of education and health,” he said.
On Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Alhaji Abubakar said his government would assist the sector to grow and play their expected roles in the economy through the right policies and programmes, while also promising to increase investments in human capital, “especially in health and education, as the people were the fundamental reason for economic growth.”
“We will create jobs by growing the economy by promoting innovative flagship job creation programmes such as :The National Open Apprenticeship Programme, through which we shall enhance the capacity of mastercrafts men and women to train one million apprentices every year.
“Our National Innovation Fund and SME Venture initiatives will provide stable and sustainable long-term support to aspiring entrepreneurs.
“We will create an Economic Stimulus Fund with an initial investment capacity of approximately 25billion dollars to support private sector investment in infrastructure,” he said.
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According to him, repositioning the economy requires a government that had the right focus, vowing that the PDP would meet the economic goals of Nigerians if elected.
On the recent suspension of the former Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, the PDP presidential candidate decried the Federal Government’s action, describing it as a grave attack on the country’s constitution and the people of Nigeria.
According to him, the constitution has already spelt out the rules for the suspension and removal of the CJN, pointing out that due process was not followed in Onnoghen’s suspension.
“As someone who has vigorously defended our constitution over a number of decades you can be rest assured that I will do all of n my power to ensure the matter is resolved in accordance with our constitution. For a key part of my vision for Nigeria is respect for the rule of law, because without it, you can have no society,” Alhaji Abubakar said.
Speaking on the forthcoming poll, the PDP presidential hopeful said he could not think of a more important exercise than it since the return of the country to democratic governance in 1999, giving the country’s daunting developmental challenges.
According to him, “The opportunity to change the course of history and rebuild the country begins on February 16th when Nigerians will exercise their sacred duty to elect their president and other political leaders. Nigerians must reject the status quo and bring in a leader who has a history of economic reform and political transformation.”
Nigeria, he said needed a leader who shared it’s hopes and aspirations, and someone who understood the complexities of the development process and who had the capacity to articulate an acceptable notion of development, adding that this required “strong commitment, bold initiatives and a discernible shift from the mistakes of the past to lift Nigeria from the abyss and make it’s people happier, healthier, and wealthier.”
He, therefore, urged all Nigerians to go out, come February 16th elections and vote “so together we can Get Nigeria Working Again.”
Prominent Nigerians at the lecture include: Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; a leader of pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, Chief Olabode George, former Governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Liyel Imoke, PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, among others
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