OBASANJO:I'M IN PDP BUT CAN'T DIE FOR PARTY

Obasanjo: I’m in PDP but can’t die for party

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said yesterday that he was still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The former President spoke when the presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Martins Onovo, visited his Hilltop home in Abeokuta.

He said constructive criticisms were healthy for the nation, hinting also that whoever is averse to them, particularly public officials, should understand that both the critics and the subjects are co – stakeholders in the Nigerian project.

His words: “Let me make my own position clear, I am a card carrying member of PDP because that is the party on which platform I became the president of this country. My first pre-occupation is what is best for Nigeria, Nigeria first, party second and any other thing third.

“Nigeria first means I will sacrifice anything for the interest of Nigeria and I can  sacrifice my own life for the interest of Nigeria. I can’t sacrifice my life for the interest of a party, I’ll sacrifice my life for the interest of Nigeria.

“If what you’re trying to do is in the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians accept and vote for you, who I am not to accept you as President of Nigeria, I will. It is your duty to campaign, inform, woo and to convince the electorate but whatever may be the outcome of the election after you have done all that, once the election is free and fair, undisturbed and uninterrupted, then you have to accept the verdict of the people.

“Then what do you do in such circumstances, if you are in government and you are doing what is right and you are given good governance, you can do a lot of things but you don’t have to necessarily be in government to serve your people.

“You can still do it (as a private person), the founder of your party was never in any government and yet, he served the people of this country.”

Obasanjo said the founder of the NCP and human rights lawyer, the late Gani Fawehinmi, was a genuine critic.

He said: “I believe he was a genuine social critic, you may not agree with all he said or how he went about it but he was definitely a genuine social critic.

“So, if you, as the flag-bearer of the party he founded believed that you should follow in his footstep of integrity and genuine critical analysis and committed analysis and criticism of the situation in the country, I think nobody will fault you.

“In this part of the world we have a saying that if people sleep and they put their heads on the same pillow, they are in danger and that means there should be some people that should be critically looking and watching and be able to speak up when they should speak up.

“No matter what others may say because people may come up and say Nigeria doesn’t belong to anybody, I believe that is a stupid saying, Nigeria belongs to all of us because anything that doesn’t belong to anybody, anything can happen to it. For me Nigerian belongs to all of us and we are stakeholders in this country.

Onovo decried the nation’s rising debt burden, saying it was $70billion. He said the data was gotten from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abuja.

The NCP candidate said: “We are aware that you left about $67 billion in the excess crude account and the foreign reserves.

“It’s unfortunate and we also think that many Nigerians are looking for fundamental change and we are hoping after getting there, with your blessing, we will build on some of your developmental initiatives.

“We think that Nigeria needs a fundamental change and not superficial change, that’s our view and we have decided to come and tell you our mission in politics. What we are here to do and how we intend doing it and to seek your blessings for the efforts we are making.”