NEWS

Obasanjo Rules Out Coup, ING

                                                                                                                                                                 

 Ahead of the presidential election holding this weekend, former president Olusegun Obasanjo has said rumours of Interim National Government (ING) and possible military takeover should be dismissed by Nigerians as both are not known to the Nigerian constitution.
The former leader firmly ruled out a military coup, saying soldiers are ‘not trained to run the affairs of any nation.’
Chief Obasanjo said this yesterday at his Hilltop Mansion in Abeokuta while playing host to the delegation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) women leaders led by the wife of the presidential candidate, Hajiya Aisha Buhari.
“I do hope we will get things right. A lot of rumours are flying around; I think we have gone away from the rumour of Interim Government because that is not in our constitution. I hope we will soon go away from the rumour of handing over to the military because the military is not meant to run affairs of a nation in terms of running government,” he said.
Obasanjo maintained that beyond Nigeria, the international community, particularly the African Union, will not tolerate any undemocratic form of government, as such was strange to its charter.
“And the intentional community will not condone it, particularly African Union where we have a situation. We have said – and it is part and parcel of the constituting act of the African Union – that any government that is not brought about on the basis of the constitution will not be accepted, will not be tolerated and will not be a member of the AU until that government is dismantled.”
The former leader berated politicians for not basing their campaigns on salient issues of security, economy and other relevant matters, but packing them with hate messages.

“We have serious issues of security;, we have serious issue of our economy; we have issue of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment; we have serious issues of infrastructure – these are issues amongst others that I believe the campaign of those who are interested in the present and the future of this country should be directed at – how are we going to get them, what are we going to do; not trivial issues of certificate, no certificate.”
Obasanjo warned that Nigeria should not go way of the Cote d ‘Ivoire after that country’s last presidential election.
“I said it. This is what they had in Cote d’ Ivoire that led them to a very serious problem; not issue of religion, not issue of tribe, not issue of section but issues of unity of this country. The hate campaign that we have embarked upon now, I hope this will be the last time in the history of this country that we will have this type of campaign of hatred or division.
“I think the emphasis should be on what unite us, not what divide us.”
The former president urged the women to always play their role well when things do not work well for the citizens.
“When things are going wrong, if women don’t act, things will continue to go wrong because you have ability to act. The men who invariably make things to go wrong are your fathers, your husbands, your sons, you sons-in-law, and with your husbands. You can have pillow talk, but when things are going wrong and you do not talk or act, you will also be the greatest victim at the end of the day because it will have effect on your children and would have a direct effect on you, and will have the effect on all of us,” he noted.
Obasanjo said Nigeria should not just be the largest country in Africa but should serve as role model to other nations.
“It shouldn’t be – we are the largest country in Africa, we should be a model, setting examples, we shouldn’t be drawing Africa backward. I hope we will not. I hope at the end of this exercise, we would be where we should be, leading Africa and showing examples for the rest of Africa and indeed the rest of the world,” Obasanjo stated.