The former president declared that he was ready to make more personal sacrifices like he had done, to make Nigeria better.
Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has vowed that no amount of intimidation and threat will force him to abandon his struggle for a better Nigeria.
He said “nobody who loves Nigeria will not want it to be better that what it is today,” and warned that if Nigerians fail to act together as they should, the country will not be what it should be by 2019.
He made the remarks yesterday, while addressing a 30-man delegation of Bafarawa Presidential Campaign Organisation (BCO), led by the former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, during a courtesy visit to him at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) residence, Abeokuta.
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The former president, who observed that no right-thinking Nigerian will applaud the current situation in the country, declared that he was ready to make more personal sacrifices like he had done, to make Nigeria better.
Obasanjo said he would throw his weight behind any presidential candidate who has track records of integrity, diligence, humility and not nepotism.
He saluted Bafarawa’s courage for aspiring to rule the country and said the former governor achieved a lot in Sokoto, by listening to his advice and cooperating with him as president. This, he added, made him to visit Sokoto State 14 times to unveil projects
He said: “There are three attributes of a leader I saw in you, namely, diligence, humility and you don’t discriminate in terms of people who work with you. And you listen to advice. And so, yours is to see what you can do to make Nigeria better than what it is today.
“I’ve made personal sacrifices and I will make more. I fought in the war front and shed blood. I went to prison for doing nothing wrong. I’ve also been intimidated and threatened, what would you do to intimidate somebody like me?
“Before I act, I pray to God to guide me, and I think of Nigeria first, particularly majority of Nigerians who are underprivileged, whose situation we need to improve upon.
“But, leadership is not easy; if we do not act in unity, Nigeria will not be what it should be come 2019. For 200 million people to continue to complain that things are not right, we are doing the same thing like we have done before.
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“And if we keep doing the same thing, the result will not be different. If we want a different result, we must do things differently. And I believe we can do things differently.”
Speaking earlier, Bafarawa said he decided to visit Obasanjo to seek his prayers, advice and support for his presidential aspiration. He said as a governor, between 1999 and 2007, he was able to save and leave N11.8 billion in the coffers of the state, courtesy the then president’s advice.
He noted that the former president institutionalised the fight against corruption by establishing the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offence Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), saying “anybody talking about fight against corruption without mentioning Obasanjo is erroneous.”