Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday, revealed the reason why he chose the late former President Umaru Yar’ Adua as his successor.
Obasanjo while speaking in an interview with Channels Television, said that out of the people who were clamouring to succeed him, only Yar’Adua was not corrupt.
Asides Yar’Adua, the other prominent presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2007 were Obasanjo’s deputy, Abubakar Atiku; and ex-Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili.
Obasanjo chose Yar’Adua, who would eventually die on May 5, 2010 from heart-related ailments.
He said, “Even if you take your son as your successor, you are not sure of what he will do when he gets there. Don’t ever kid yourself.
“What do I know about any successor? What he presents. When he gets there, he presents it differently.
“We did our best, but if you say our best is not good enough, I will say, when it comes to your turn, do better.
“With all the people that are available for successor, what we came up with was about the best that we could think of at that time.
“One of those who wanted to do the job came to me and said, ‘Sir, I like your job, but I cannot do it the way you are doing it.’ Now, if he had told me that, should I then come and say, ‘okay, come, let me give you the job?’ He had told me that, ‘I like your job, but look, the way you are doing it, I haven’t got the stamina to do it that way.’ Then, what do you expect me to do?
“Or the one that I know that, oh!, this one, before he gets the job, he’s stinkingly corrupt. Now will I be able to defend myself before God and man if with what I know I give this job or I encourage the man to have this job?
Sai baba OBJ! Now tell us why you chose GEJ because we were told he and his bombastic wife milked Bayelsa treasury dry!