Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday placed a question mark on the credibility of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Obasanjo stated this, while answering questions posed by students from selected secondary schools that participated in the finals of the National Exhibition and Awards organised by Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship.
The event, held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State, according to a Punch report featured presentations and exhibitions of some products made by students of the participating schools.
Obasanjo, who spoke on his life and achievements both as a military Head of State and as a civilian President, said he made two great mistakes, which included the choice of his ‘number two’ ahead of the 1999 presidential election.
The second mistake, he revealed, was his refusal to accept an asylum when he was told that the late Head of State, Sani Abacha, was plotting to arrest him. The action, he said, could have led to his death.
Obasanjo became democratically elected President in 1999 with Atiku as his deputy. Although, he did not mention Atiku by name in his statement, Obasanjo however said drafting Atiku as his deputy was a mistake he made in good faith, but was saved by God.
He said, “One of the mistakes I made was picking my number two when I wanted to become the President. But because it was a genuine mistake, God saved me.
“The second one was when Abacha wanted to arrest me. When he wanted to arrest me, I was told by the American ambassador that they would arrest me and that America had asked that I should be given an asylum. I said ‘No’. It could have been a mistake because I could have lost my life.
“I will say there are many things that could have been a mistake but God saved me from them all.”
While speaking on opportunities for the youths to take over the mantle of leadership in the country, Obasanjo said youths can never come into power, if the current trend continues.
He stressed that with the “Not Too Young to Run campaign, and you can see that those that are contesting now are between 70 and 80 years old, how can the youths run?”
“Another thing inhibiting youth from running is the amount of money involved in going into politics. I hope that things should not continue like this.
“I was 39 years old when I became the Military Head of State. 20 years later, I came back as civilian president, but those there now do not want to allow the youths. If things continue like this, I do not know how you can come in.”
Welcoming participants at the event, the Chairman of SAGE Nigeria, Agwu Amogu, said the programme was to celebrate the creative energies and commitments of teen entrepreneurs who see the challenges in the communities as their responsibilities.
He said, “SAGE is an acronym for Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship. It is an international programme initiated at the California State University Chico USA in 2002 and currently operational in over 32 countries across all the continents of the world.
“It offers secondary school-age young people a hands-on learning process on how to create wealth, help others and their communities
Amigu said since the introduction of the program in Nigeria in 2006, it has shown that it is a potent strategy and model for educational reform, youth re-orientation, job creation and poverty alleviation and multi-cultural integration
According to him, Nigeria urgently needs a new paradigm for education.
“The new paradigm must provide students with a chance to learn while solving community problems and immediately applying what they have learnt in the classroom by actually doing something great.
“We now live in a world where any country can compete effectively with others based on the creative imagination of its human capital. There is no better place to stoke the fire of imagination than in the young people. And that is where SAGE comes in.
“SAGE is about creating value. Students are encouraged to create something of value in their communities by applying what they learn in the classroom and testing it in the ultimate laboratory – the free market,” he said.
Amogu added, “We firmly believe that Nigeria can be a world leader in providing potent human capital to the rest of the world; setting a benchmark for other countries to follow.
“Having won the SAGE World Competition 8 times in the last 12 years, I have no doubt in my mind that Nigerian young people are one of the most energetic and enterprising in the world and they can quicken ourour rise to a global super power status.”
The SAGE chairman said winners of this year’s competition will represent Nigeria in the SAGE World Competition holding in Netherlands in August, 2022.
