[Mhiz Rebecca]

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says he doesn’t
know the position Asiwaju Bola Tinubu currently
holds in the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Obasanjo said this during a programme titled, “The
Talk,” which was aired on a YouTube Channel,
“Voice of the People.”
The former President had been asked to identify the
designations of certain political figures in the
country.
He identified Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo as the President and Vice President
respectively, while he also identified Senator
Bukola Saraki as the Senate President.
When asked to identify Tinubu, he said, “Oh, Bola?
Bola is supposed to be the leader of the APC. I
don’t know the position of his leadership as you
and I are talking.”
In the interview, which seemed to have been
recorded before he openly endorsed the presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku
Abibakar, the former President said he had hoped
that Atiku would succeed him as President in
2007.
Obasanjo said this was the reason he gave Atiku a
lot of responsibilities but his former deputy made
some wrong decisions.
“Atiku didn’t want to become even a Vice
President (in 1999). He was elected as a governor,”
he recalled.
He, however, said his plan was to mentor Atiku to
be his successor but his former deputy failed him.
Obasanjo added, “My plan was that he would be
given a lot of work to do domestically and Atiku
even used to complain that I gave him too much
work to do, which was intentional because I
wanted him to get to know things.
“My second term was that having prepared him for
domestic issues, I would want him to represent
Nigeria for one year at the African Union,
Economic Community of West African States and
the United Nations for a year so that he would be
fully prepared, but the first thing I found out was
that his judgement was not right on many
occasions.”
The former President, who insisted that Buhari had
not done well in government, said as a watchman,
he would continue to speak up when things were
going wrong.
He said there was the need for Nigerians, especially
the youth, to elect leaders that could fit into a
“digital 21st century post-modern era rather than
electing analogue personalities.”
On the Boko Haram crisis, Obasanjo said after he
left office in 2007, his successor (late Umaru
Yar’Adua) mismanaged the issue, which caused
the group to become terrorists.
Obasanjo said had he been President at the time,
Boko Haram would not have become what it is
today.
He recalled that in 2011, with the permission of
former President Goodluck Jonathan, he visited the
family of Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf,
and other aggrieved persons in the terrorist group
and they explained why they were carrying out
attacks.
The former President added, “In 2011, I went to
Maiduguri. This was after Boko Haram had
attacked the UN building in Abuja and I just
wanted to know who they were and if they had
leaders and what their grievances were.
“I found out that these elements of Boko Haram
had been there even while I was in government.
And they, through their intermediary, said they
were there and I didn’t disturb them so they didn’t
disturb me.
“They were preaching Sharia and that was what
they wanted. But, according to them, when I left
government, they were being chased and haunted
and they lost a number of their adherents and they
decided to fight back and even the leader of their
sect, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed and his in-law
was also killed.
“They went to court to try and get compensation
which was granted to them but the state
government did not pay.”