(NIGERIA) Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday, declared that he is not nursing any grudge or crossed with President Goodluck Jonathan, noting that all he is after is to ensure Nigeria gets good governance.
Obasanjo made the statement at his hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while receiving Iyalodes and Iyalojas in the South-West led by the Iyalode of Yoruba, Mrs. Alaba-Lawson, who paid him a courtesy visit.
He said: “I was reading it in one paper today where they said why they (Presidency) became jittery when they heard you were coming to visit me is that I and Jonathan are not in good terms. There is nothing as such. I have no grudges against Jonathan and I think Jonathan equally has no grudges against me.
“I’m not quarrelling with Jonathan, but all I know is that whatever is good for Nigeria, that I’m ready to die for it. I emphasise that whatever is good for Nigeria is what I’m ready to defend with my life. Whoever, I emphasise, whoever says he would not do anything good to Nigeria, even if he says he’s ready to go ‘koko bellow’, I’m ready to square it up with such a person. I say again, whoever that person may be, I want you to get that correctly.”
Obasanjo charges Nigerians on the February elections to ensure those they are going to vote into office are candidates with known, visible and good track records.
He emphasised that the nation needs good governance and leadership, saying: “Now you said this year is an election year, I have no apprehension over this coming elections. I have no fears over the forthcoming elections.
“If this country is going to change for the better, it would start from the top and if it’s going to be otherwise, it would start from the top, too.”
The former president declared that the failure of the current administration to plan for the future plunged the nation into economic woes being currently experienced.
“It takes us back to what we said earlier that if the head is rotten, it will affect the entire body, because if there is no good governance, it would affect the economy. Our economy should not have been this bad.
“When I was leaving office about eight years ago, I left a very huge reserve after we had paid all our debts. Almost 25billion dollars we kept in what they called excess crude (account). The excess from the budget we were saving as reserve for the rainy day. When we left in May 2007, the reserve was said to have been raised to 35billion dollars. But today, that reserve has been depleted.”
Obasanjo asked: “Is there any remedy?” and retorted: “There is, but it does not come overnight, because it means we have to give up all the bad things we have been doing.
“Good governance comes from voting, from selection of leaders. It is now left to you to decide who you cast your vote for, because if you throw away your votes and tomorrow you are saying good governance, once you throw away your votes, you have lost out. That is one.”
The former president, consequently, charged Nigerians to “find out the track records of achievements of those you want to vote for. What have they achieved in the past and not what they have said.”
He said, “Truly, the price of crude has fallen, but anyone who is wise enough should know that since we depend on just one resource, and since we have no control over its pricing, we should be planning for this type of situation and the way out of it. Our inability to have reserve has brought us into this economic quagmire.”
See http://www.mynewswatchtimesng.com/ive-no-grudge-jonathan-obasanjo/
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