My Comments Against Jonathan Not To Castigate Him – Obasanjo Tells Begging Governors

Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Thursday, held a-three-hour- closed door meeting with five governors of the people’s Democratic Party, PDP, in his home.

The Governors led by Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom were in Ogun state to plead with the former President to support Jonathan’s re-election bid and those in the entourage included Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi and Liyel Imoke of Cross-River .

But here’s what the former President said to newsmen at the need of the closed door meeting .

‘’I have raised most of what we discussed in my own public pronouncements in recent times, not to castigate anybody, not to bad-mouth anybody, not to run anybody down, but, out of genuine concern for the situation of this country and that is the same thing that brought them and I want to thank them.

“When we looked at these issues closely, very objectively, we came to the conclusion that, we have a bad situation, but, not irredeemably bad. Something can still be done and what now is required is the will and the courage to do something when and how it needs to be done. We agreed on that.

“I appreciate their coming to me because of the respect and honour they have for me, this task is not for one man and it is not even a task for one group, it is a task that requires all hands on deck and as they have said and assured me, they will hold this type of consultation with other leaders in the interest of this country which is ours and for which we have no alternatives.

“The other day, somebody told me he knows NADECO route but I do not want to follow NADECO route.

He said continued on oil prices and Nigeria’s economy.  “I am never scared by anything but I am concerned that firstly, when we had surplus, we did not remember the rainy day, now ,that the rainy day is staring us in the face, we must be honest and courageous enough to do what is right, to let the nation know and then to take the steps that will put it right as quickly as possible and you do not need to be an oracle or a world bank expert or an International Monetary Fund expert to know that our economy is not what it should be.

“And this is not the first time we would hear it, we have heard it in the past when of course I came in in1999, the price of oil was about $9 and we realised that we had a problem, we even made budget that we could not fund but we realised that we were in a serious situation and we took steps, within two to three years, we were able to sail through, the price of fuel started moving up.

“Do not forget that there was a time during the Iraqi war, price of fuel rose to $42 and then it came down to $9, the one that we have now, we do not know when it would bottom and at what price it would bottom but we can weather the storm if we take measure that we should take it and when to take it”.