Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo says Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), never claimed to be a saint and he never described him as such.
Obasanjo said this when he led
Atiku and other PDP leaders to Island Club, Lagos, on Wednesday.
The elite club marked its 75th
anniversary.
Obasanjo said as a Christian, the
only Messiah he has is Jesus Christ and that the man aspect of Him was
imperfect while the divine aspect of Him was perfectly messianic.
“Atiku never claimed to be a
saint and I never described him as such. I will never so describe any human
being alive let alone calling him a Messiah,” he said.
“On an occasion in the past when
I said that someone was not a Messiah, some Nigerians out of bad belle were up
in arms. For me, as a Christian, the only Messiah I know and have is Jesus
Christ and even then, the man aspect of Him was imperfect while the divine
aspect of Him was perfectly messianic.
“I must reiterate that Atiku is
not a saint and who is? But from what I know of Atiku, he will be a performer
in all respects. I can say that again from my personal experience.
“A leader must be honest to
himself and to the people he serves or he wants to serve. He must identify and
acknowledge his situation, mistakes, shortcomings and inadequacy; show remorse
where and when he has erred, seek forgiveness and repent; and not passing the
bulk or keep blaming others and fail to accept responsibility.
“Atiku accepts responsibility for
his mistakes, shows remorse and seeks forgiveness from his political party and
subsequently from Nigerians. He asked for forgiveness from me and as a
believer, a Christian as such, I forgave him in accordance with the teaching
and instruction of my Saviour.
“If anybody blames me for forgiving
Atiku, I leave such a person with God Almighty, especially as both Christian
and Islamic clerics joined Atiku to visit me to seek forgiveness. Anybody who
does not forgive when forgiveness is sought with contrite heart cannot be a
true believer and should not expect the forgiveness of God.”
‘ATIKU UNDERSTANDS THE SITUATION
BETTER’
Obasanjo added that Atiku has a
good understanding of the problems confronting Nigeria.
“As a leader, you must understand
the fundamentals of the problems you have to solve and be courageous, visionary
and ready to reach out sufficiently to build a credible team of experts,
knowledgeable men and women, concerned and interested citizens and non-citizens
to work hard and tirelessly for solutions that will benefit all Nigerians and
indeed Africans and humanity,” he said.
“He must have ability to build a
credible team, lead them, listen to them and give them enough leeway to achieve
and make meaningful contribution without abdicating his responsibility. He must
be accessible to them. From my personal knowledge of Atiku, he has these
qualities.
‘BOTH ATIKU AND BUHARI HAVE
ISSUES’
He also said neither the PDP
presidential candidate nor President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) is a saint but one was better than the other.
“We now know that both Buhari and
Atiku have issues and all of us as human beings have one issue or the other in
different magnitude but judging both of them empirically and for the task at
hand, Atiku will perform much better than Buhari and he will seek for good and
able people around the country and beyond and make use of them to achieve his
mission and vision for the general good of Nigerians and the country.
“He will be a team leader but
will not allow the seizure of his mandate by a cabal. A system to prevent
impunity and ‘I can do what I like’ attitude and action must be put in place for
all concerned. It is more than check and balance, rather it is for the good of
all stakeholders and equity-holders.”
‘WHY ATIKU WAS NEVER CALLED
ACTING PRESIDENT’
Obasanjo also said no president
in the history of the country gave his deputy more opportunities than he did to
Atiku.
He also spoke on why Atiku was
not designated “acting president”, taunting Buhari.
“One of the most ridiculous
claims I have heard on these issues is that I did not give Atiku chance to
preside over the federal executive council because I did not trust him,” he
said.
“That was not correct because he
had occasions to preside on a few times that I was out of the country on duty.
On those occasions, he was in charge of the Federal Executive Council meetings.
“And no Nigerian Chief Executive
has devolved to his deputy as much as I did to Atiku. I did not need to
designate him Acting President because the Constitution is clear, once the
President is not available, the Vice-President automatically acts with full
powers and he consults where and if he considers it necessary. But since I was
not absent from home for 104 days at a time, people may not know that Atiku
actually stood in for me whenever I was out.”
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