Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday warned against military takeover of government in the country.
Obasanjo, who gave the warning while receiving a delegation of South-West women of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said any military takeover of government would not be recognised by the international community.
The APC delegation was led to the ex-president’s Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State by the wife of the party’s presidential candidate, Hajia Aisha Buhari.
Obasanjo said he was happy that Nigeria had gone beyond the rumour of Interim National Government, adding that the country would also survive the current rumour of handing over to the military.
He said: “I do hope we will get things more. 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. And the international community will not condone it, particularly African Union.
“We have said and it is part and parcel of the constituting act of the African Union. Any government that is brought about not 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.”
Obasanjo noted that the international community was much interested in Nigeria’s general elections, saying the country should strive to live up to expectation by conducting credible polls.
He said: “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.
“We have the goodwill of many people. I watched last night (Monday), President (Barack) Obama talking about our constitution. I watched our brother from Ghana, the current chairman of ECOWAS talked about our constitution; they are all interested. They all wish us well.
Should we wish ourselves anything less?” The former president decried what he called hate campaigns among the political parties in the country.
He said politicians and candidates seeking elective offices should focus more on what would unite Nigeria than what would cause division.
He said: “May be I should say one or two things about campaign. I do hope that whatever happens at the elections, the one coming this week and the one coming couple of weeks after that, that we would have learnt the right lessons from what has taken place this time around.
“Unfortunately, issues that should have been the main item of our campaign, they did not. We have serious issues of security, we have serious issue of our economy, we have issue of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. We have serious issue of infrastructure.
These are issues amongst others that I believe 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; not trivial issues of when somebody is talking about someone is a Nigerian and not a Nigerian.
“I said it; this is what they had in Cote d’Ivoire and led them into a very serious problem; not issue of religion, not issue of tribe, not issue of section but issues of unity of this country and 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 unites us, not what divides us.”
Obasanjo urged Nigerian women to play active role towards ensuring a better country, saying doing otherwise may adversely affect their wellbeing.
Speaking earlier, Mrs. Buhari commended Obasanjo for being a true nationalist and statesman. She said the former president acted beyond party leaning while solving issues affecting the country.
She said: “Baba exercises his prowess as a father, as a former head of state of Nigeria twice. Very few Nigerians have the opportunity to rule the country twice. We are here today to show our appreciation the way you handle things as a statesman and also a nationalist. “We thank you so much for acting beyond party in getting things right; thank you for that. May you live long to continue solving out problems.”