Obasanjo Says I Am Ready To Die For Nigeria

A former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said he
can sacrifice his life in the interest of Nigeria. However, he
said he would not do the same for any political party.

He said this on Thursday during a visit to his Hilltop
residence in Abeokuta by the presidential candidate of the
National Conscience Party, Dr. Martins Onovo.

He said since he left office his pre-occupation had been the
promotion of the country’s interest, adding that it would be
foolish for anyone to say Nigeria did not belong to anybody.

He said, “My first pre-occupation is what is best for Nigeria.

Nigeria first, party second and any other thing, third. I can
sacrifice anything in the interest of Nigeria and I can
sacrifice my own life for Nigeri
“I can’t sacrifice my life for any party’s interest but I’ll
sacrifice my life in the interest of Nigeria.”

He frowned on the situation where everyone would keep
quiet and watch things degenerate in the country.

While commending the late legal icon, Chief Gani
Fawehinmi, the founder of the NCP, he said though some
people might not agree with his brand of activism, he was a
veritable voice of conscience.

He said, “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. Though 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 flag bearer of the party, believed that you
should follow on his footsteps of integrity and genuine
critical and committed analysis and criticism of the situation
in the country, I think nobody will fault you.”

He advised the party to accept whatever was the outcome
of the election, if the election was free, fair and
uninterrupted. He said that people should not necessarily be
in government before they could contribute to the nation’s
development.

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. That means there should be some
people that should be critically looking and watching and
also able to speak up. 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 the PDP, because that is the party on which
platform I became the President of this country.

“If what you’re trying to do is in the best interest of Nigeria
and Nigerians accept and vote for you, who I am I not to
accept you as President of Nigeria, I will. But in this your
campaign, try to inform, woo and to convince the
electorates but 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.”

Onovo said his government, if voted, would continue with
the developmental initiative of the former President.

He said, “Our programme is designed to lead to the
abolition of poverty through full employment, improve health care and electricity supply and energy which are 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, Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and other
related offences Commission, we intend to continue.

“We intend, when we get elected with your guidance,ý to
your effectiveness, to check the loss in national revenue so
that we have funds to carry out the developmental
programmes we’ve promised our people.”