Former
Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, yesterday explained
the rationale behind the selection of former President Olusegun Obasanjo
in 1999.
Featuring
on a weekly Guest-of-the Week programme of Liberty FM, a private radio
station in Kaduna, Babangida said they picked General Obasanjo because
they needed somebody who can save the country from disintegration.
“The
emergence of Obasanjo came as a result of what happened in the country.
The country was in a very serious crisis and we had to find the
solution to these problems. Therefore we need a leader. A leader who is
known in the country. “So, we looked for a man who has been involved in
the affairs of this country, who held position either in the military or
in the cabinet and who has certain beliefs about Nigeria. All of us
that were trained in the armed forces, there is one belief that you
cannot take away from us, we believe in this country because this is
part of our training. We fought for this country.
“So
when you have a situation like that, you need a leader that has all
these attributes and, quite frankly, he quickly came to mind. We have
one who knows the north, knows the south and who fought a war,” he said.
He
expressed his belief in two-party system because it gives room for
choice, hailing the possible emergence of two major parties in Nigeria
because ‘it is good for the polity and the unity of this country’.
Asked
on his stand on PDP, he said “I’m a founding father of the PDP, one of
the founding fathers of the party, and I cannot disown what I founded”.
When
asked to identify his presidential candidate in 2015, he said, “I will
belong to those who will chose a credible candidate, a candidate that
can lead this country and it is not difficult to find out of 170 million
people. There must be a candidate and that is what the constitution
provides. If the party is silly and chooses the wrong candidate, the
ordinary person is not silly. He knows this man cannot lead me. So he
doesn’t vote for him. So if he chose a wrong candidate, you stand the
chance of losing”.
On
whom he will consider between retired General Muhammadu Buhari and
President Goodluck Jonathan if they become presidential candidates in
2015, Babangida said, “If (Buhari and Jonathan) become candidates, both
of them will have to sell their ideas for us, the ordinary people, and
the voters. And they have not done that. So I have enough time to think
and I am thinking and they will be anxious to come and see me. They
will visit me or any other person. This is what I intend to do. We are
talking about a new emerging scenario. So, I will wait and see”.
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