The battle for the political soul of Ogun State reverberated on Tuesday at the National Conference in Abuja when a delegate representing the South-West, Senator Femi Okurounmu, told members of the Confab Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government that his kinsman, former President Olusegun Obasanjo did not win the 1999 Presidential election.
He said Obasanjo’s emergence as President was planned and executed by the powers-that-be at the time to reduce tension generated by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election which was said to have been won by the late businessman, Chief MKO Abiola.
Okurounmu’s comments came on the heels of a heated debate among the members of the committee on rotational presidency and other key positions in the country.
He said, “Obasanjo did not win the election, he was anointed by the powers-that-be to pacify the South-West over the annulment of June 12 elections. What I said, I have said it to his hearing.”
Okurounmu however said he welcomed the rotational principle idea, saying that the system would give every zone the opportunity to produce the nation’s president.
He therefore suggested that the rotational principle, if adopted, should be embedded in the Electoral Act and in the constitutions of the various political parties, stressing that it would protect the interest of Nigerians at different zones.
Another member of the committee representing the Federal Government, Senator Nimi Amange, corroborated Okurounmu viewpoint, insisting that Obasanjo was not the best presidential candidate in 1999.
He also faulted the inclusion of rotational presidency in the constitution.
Amange said, “Obasanjo was not the best candidate in the 1999 contest, but Nigerians decided to give it to the South-West for what happened to the late Chief Moshood Abiola. Nigeria has never had the best as its president.
“Our greatest problem is fear and suspicion and that is why we want everything to be in the constitution. Then if we want zoning, we should zone the presidency to all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria so that all of them will enjoy the presidency.”
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