The Chairman of Northern Elders’
Council (NEC), Tanko Yakassai, has reacted to the speculation that some retired
Generals are plotting to prevent President Muhammadu Buhari from a second term
in office.
According to him, though
ex-military generals, especially former President Olusegun Obasanjo did not
take the country to the promise land, they nevertheless control the destiny of
most Nigerians, and were played key roles in determining who governed the nation.
While acknowledging that Obasanjo
spoke the mind of many Nigerians in his special statement urging Buhari not to
seek re-election, Yakassai vowed to stand by it.
He told Newtelegraph Newspaper:
“When elections are around the corner, all sorts of things would be happening.
This is democracy, people have the rights to get together and offer their views
one way or the other. You cannot quarrel with people doing that, this is the
freedom that democracy offers. Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, all
these sorts of things are inherent in a democracy.
“For Obasanjo’s letter, I said
before that he spoke the mind of many Nigerians and I still stand by it.
“I am a lone voice in Nigeria
against the insistence of the military to continue to rule Nigeria either in
uniform or in mufti, because they have done their own and the people have seen
how far the military has taken the country.
“The military did not take this
country to the Promise Land throughout the time they ruled the country with
uniform or in civilian cloth. So let them know that.
“But the issue is that the
political parties are tools in the hands of the military and it started with
Obasanjo who took over the control of the party and appointed himself as the
leader and the governors as leaders in their states, since then 37 of them have
been deciding the fate of Nigeria.
“Somebody recently said that all
the people that were elected by Nigerians in all the political parties were
imposed on the people, they were not the choice of the people.
“Immediately after Obasanjo, he
nominated the late Umaru Musa Yar’adua, he later joined others to nominate
Goodluck Jonathan, he left Jonathan and later joined others to bring Buhari to
power. So they are now in control of the destiny of Nigerians.
“Actually, the military got the
opportunity to lord it over the people when Obasanjo appointed himself the
leader of the party, and remove the National Working Committee (NWC) of the
party and in the process appointed governors as leaders of the party in their
respective states, eventually nobody becomes a member of the State Working
Committee of the party without the consent of the governor, even if he was
already elected, he would be removed and somebody else will replace him. That
is why the entire NWC of the PDP were removed not only once, twice but three
times by Obasanjo and replaced with people who will do his bidding.”
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