Obasanjo, yesterday said it is
insulting and ridiculous to question
the academic credentials of APC
presidential candidate, retired Gen.
Muhammad Buhari.
Speaking at the launch of his book,
My Watch, in London, Obasanjo
said when he joined the army, it
was mandatory that one must have
WASC or GCE before enlisting in
the armed forces.
He said the requirements were the
same when Gen. Buhari joined the
army in 1961, adding that even if
Buhari did not have the required
qualifications then, he had gone
through the staff college which is
equivalent to a first degree and the
U.S. War College which is
equivalent to a master’s degree.
“If anybody thinks that I’m
illiterate or uneducated after
attending many military
institutions in the UK, India and
the US, they should read my books”,
he said, and urged those engaged
in Buhari’s qualification debacle to
“focus on real issues and stop
degenerating into trivialities”.
Obasanjo, who answered questions
from the audience on various socio-
political issues affecting Nigeria,
said he would assess the candidates
in the election and “vote for one
with the best record”.
The former president remarked
that God would not have forgiven
him if he had allowed vice-
president Atiku Abubakar to
succeed him, noting that with his
experience, he knew what the job
of running Nigeria entailed and
who could do it well.
On whether he was overheating the
Nigerian polity with his comments,
Obasanjo said: “I am not heating
anything. When things are going
bad and you can’t say anything,
you are an accomplice. If anybody
can prove that what I am saying is
wrong, I will apologise”.
On the Chibok girls, Obasanjo
berated the federal government for
taking long to acknowledge the
incident, but not doing enough to
bring back the girls, stressing that
though the girls may never come
together again, “we must not forget
them”.
He said in spite of the problems
bedeviling Nigeria, the country’s
future is “rosy” and bright,
emphasizing that the country faced
similar problems in the past,
including the civil war but came
out stronger.
“God will see Nigeria through.
Nigeria will emerge successfully
and move up and forward”, he
said.
The book launch which was
attended by mainly Nigerians in
Diaspora, was anchored by Richard
Dowden of the Royal African
Society, London, and Zeinab
Badawi, a renowned television
broadcaster.
