Making Obasanjo President in 1999 was a big mistake —Ango Abdullahi

Tony Akowe

Former Adviser on Food Security to former President Olusegun, Obasanjo Professor Ango Abdullahi yesterday said the decision to make Obasanjo contest the presidential election in 1999 was a big mistake.

The former vice chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria said at a Town Hall meeting organised by the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity) in Kaduna that he has since regretted being one of the first people to insist that Obasanjo be made President.

Contributing to the theme of the Town Hall Meeting ‘’Picking the right candidates: The essence of one man, one vote’’ Abdullahi said: "I was one of those who insisted that Obasanjo should be our first president and right now, I am beginning to ask myself whether we took the right decision or not?

"The answer that has come to my mind is that we made the wrong decision and that was why I opted out of the PDP and out of politics… I don’t wish to be called a politician any more even though I was one of those who took a stand against zoning which should have found its way into the constitution but lost out.’’

Continuing, he said:" But the military extracted it out and left it in the hands of the politicians. As one of the founding fathers of the PDP, together with Alex Ekwueme and others, we signed the PDP into life as a party and drafted the party constitution.

‘‘I detested the inclusion of zoning in the constitution but the party felt that for the purpose of winning election, it should be there.

"I told my friend, late Abubakar Rimi in 2003 that things will not be well again and I opted out because of what was happening and went back home and I have remained at home since then"

He added that the political situation currently is that of fait accompli since none of the political parties offer any credible alternative.

The former presidential adviser opined that Nigeria has nothing to show for 12 years of democracy.

He explained: "The Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature don’t seem to be helping the growth of democracy in the Nigeria. In the last 12 years, democracy means very little to me.

"Even though I was part of it as a presidential adviser, I discovered that it has not worked for Nigeria and if we don’t get it right in 2011, when are we going to get it right?"

He lamented that political parties as currently constituted have not offered any meaningful alternative.

Abdullahi stressed: "We can distance ourselves from the parties because they have not offered us any choice and focus on the candidates and what they are likely to do or what they stand for".

The guest speaker, Barrister Festus Okoye said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should begin to create what he called baby units from polling units likely to be over crowded to avoid disenfranchising Nigerians on.

He said some units registered more than 3000 voters and will therefore be difficult to use the modified open ballot system without disenfranchising people.

He advised that the commission should also begin to work on transport and security logistics because "unless INEC works out its own transport arrangement, there is likely going to be sabotage in the system during elections.’’

Okoye, who was a member of the Justice Uwais- led Electoral Reforms Committee, called for passage of the Electoral Offences Commission Bill into law.

"Unless we catch and prosecute one person, people will not learn their lessons," he stressed.

He noted that Nigerians must resolve to get the April polls right and he lamented that the political class has infiltrated the judiciary leading to conflicting orders.