Abuja — As President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's health status continues to generate tension and anxiety in the country, former president Olusegun Obasanjo has started lobbying for the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, to be the next vice president.
LEADERSHIP gathered that Obasanjo's move was informed by his conviction that Yar'Adua might not be able to continue with his official assignment as president of Nigeria because of failing health.
Sources told our correspondent last night that Obasanjo had relocated to Abuja on Monday night to enable him coordinate his political activities effectively in favour of Lamido.
However, LEADERSHIP gathered that some northern establishment figures are looking at the candidacy of former Minister of Finance, Malam Adamu Ciroma; former National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, and Ambassador Adamu Aliyu, a former Group Managing Director of Northern Nigeria Development Corporation, who is an ex-ambassador to Japan, who is widely regarded as a "man of integrity and an achiever".
But the Nigeria Governors' Forum, our source also said, is saying that in the event the President could not continue, the vice president must come from among its members.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Party (NDP) has blamed Obasanjo over the anxiety and apprehension which the news of Yar'Adua's ill-health has generated in the country.
"With the apprehension gaining momentum by the day, we are aware of several permutations to the effect that Chief Obasanjo is allegedly lobbying for a Vice-Presidential slot for one of his lackeys", Prince Ademola Ayoade, the national secretary of the party, said yesterday in a press statement.
"We of the National Democratic Party are of the considered opinion that Chief Obasanjo should simply hide his head in shame for the selfishness and greed exhibited in the twilight of his administration, by putting the destiny of over 150 million Nigerians in the hands of a sickly President."
While sharing the sentiments being expressed by some Nigerians that the President needs prayers, the party said Obasanjo should be blamed for this political logjam, and so deserves to be ignored in the unfolding scenario.
"Even though we are not against the aspiration of anyone. It will be bad publicity to have Obasanjo marketing any candidate for a post that is yet to be vacant. Nigerians will forever live to regret Obasanjo's decision to this effect."
The party said the current crisis would have been avoided had Obasanjo had the interest of the country at heart during the 2007 electoral process, adding that at the height of the build-up to the 2007 elections, Obasanjo and his co-travelers in the PDP stage-managed the entire process and foisted Yar'Adua on the nation, knowing full well that the man had serious health challenges.
"After the death of his infamous third term agenda, he unveiled his greed and avarice and tried all he could to alter the apple cart, but God did not allow him. He went further to lobby a man who the whole wide world knew was not having the best in terms of healthy state of mind, and rigged him into office.
"For the past two years, the nation has been undergoing series of mind fluctuations due to the ill-health of Mr. President, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. Even though we are aware that ill-health and death are in the realm of the Almighty Lord, there were some able bodied presidential aspirants who could have done better than what the nation is going through at this critical time of our political development."
While praying God to forgive Obasanjo for this "deliberate wickedness and selfishness quite unbecoming of a man who wanted the country and the entire world to see him as an elder statesman, NDP joined the swelling voices who are calling on the President to resign his position and allow the Constitution to take precedence.
"It is obvious that given the health condition of the President, he certainly cannot discharge his constitutional responsibilities any more, hence it is advised that he should simply tender his resignation and allows the nation to move forward. We wish him the very best as we pray for his soonest recovery".
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In any democratic setting the world over, no democracy will even dream of imitating the Nigerian style. We have found ourselves in a pathetic situation in the sense that even the presidency is not working, what a misplacement of priorities. It is very absurd to such kind of leadership, in more beffitting situation it is a crime to fix in a president that is not fit to lead but it is not a crime for him to resign afterall he is not the first. Let us not be swept away by the tide of history, many government have gone prior to lack of deliverance, why not in our own country? Lobbying for a vice president is not the answer to our leadership problem but deliverance. I will my readers with wise saying of Edmund Burke"The thing necessary for the triumph oe evil, is for the good men to do nothing". Are there no more good men again? Let the elite leave us alone, and general populace decides who the cap fits.
In any democratic setting the world over, no democracy will even dream of imitating the Nigerian style. We have found ourselves in a pathetic situation in the sense that even the presidency is not working, what a misplacement of priorities. It is very absurd to such kind of leadership, in more beffitting situation it is a crime to fix in a president that is not fit to lead but it is not a crime for him to resign afterall he is not the first. Let us not be swept away by the tide of history, many government have gone prior to lack of deliverance, why not in our own country? Lobbying for a vice president is not the answer to our leadership problem but deliverance. I will my readers with wise saying of Edmund Burke"The thing necessary for the triumph oe evil, is for the good men to do nothing". Are there no more good men again? Let the elite leave us alone, and general populace decides who the cap fits.
In any democratic setting the world over, no democracy will even dream of imitating the Nigerian style. We have found ourselves in a pathetic situation in the sense that even the presidency is not working, what a misplacement of priorities. It is very absurd to such kind of leadership, in more beffitting situation it is a crime to fix in a president that is not fit to lead but it is not a crime for him to resign afterall he is not the first. Let us not be swept away by the tide of history, many government have gone prior to lack of deliverance, why not in our own country? Lobbying for a vice president is not the answer to our leadership problem but deliverance. I will my readers with wise saying of Edmund Burke"The thing necessary for the triumph oe evil, is for the good men to do nothing". Are there no more good men again? Let the elite leave us alone, and general populace decides who the cap fits.
If it is true that Obasonjo is yet poking his nose in an attempt to smuggle yet another of his co-corrupt men to lead Nigeria , May God help the country. We dont need to go too far to understand why these crooks rush to impose one of their own on us once there is a vacuum in leadership. All succeeding so called Military Generals have employed same tactics to hide their ill gotten wealth from probe.
Look at the history of millitarism in the country except a short spam under Gowan and may be , just may be Buhari.
Obasanjo has been working very hard to elude Nigerians from the massive corruption under his watchful eyes, A man who was almost crunched by Abacha and imprisoned in his Otta Farm . While Nigerians nicknamed Babangida as Maradona , Obasanjo remained as the worst leader the country has ever known.
NO one is hearing any further about several allegations of huge shameful corrupt deals between him , his daughter and family at the expense of the nation under his rule . He is working extremely hard to impose another puppet with no capacity to open up the record of his leadership and the source of his massive whealth including his cohorts. Nigerains are hurting and this man must be stopped from causing more damage to the economy and inhibiting national progress. He has nothing good for the nation .
This Leadership newspaper will never learn to stop peddling rumors that could destabilize the nation - the same rumor mongering that got the editors of this tabloid into trouble almost exactly to this day of last year over the same subject of Emperor YarAduas rumored death. As for Olives comment above, if she/he cant discern the difference between the greatest leader (OBJ) Nigerians ever had and the worst (Abacha and this dead man walking YarAdua) then all hope is lost for Nigerians that think like Olive N. Yall deserved what you get a lame duck, visionless, selfish leader that doesnt know when to bow out for the sake of 140 million people. You better get rid of a ghost b4 he brings the nation down with him. Yar, just go away, you are our worst nightmare.
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