Obasanjo said he did what he had to do and had no regrets .
The elder statesman spoke in Lagos on Friday during a reception organised by his close associates to celebrate his 80 th birthday .
“ I make no apologies for treading on anybody ’ s toes. If anybody put their toes on my path, I will tread on them, ” Obasanjo said .
He attributed Nigeria ’ s woes to inconsistencies in government policies.
Obasanjo said the failure of successive leaders to consolidate on the achievements of their predecessors had made governance look like an impossible task .
Obasanjo recalled that during one of his visits to Singapore , he asked the country’ s former Prime Minister , Harry Lee Kuan Yew, the secrets of the Asian country’ s success .
The former president said , “ He (Yew ) simply told me their secret was that they did a few things right and continued to do them right . We keep lamenting as if Nigeria is impossible to run or get things rights .
“ I think that during my tenure as president , we did quite a few things right but our failure to continue to do what we have done right is the problem .
“ One of the things we got right was the Universal Basic Education. We said Nigerians had no reason not to have at least nine years of education .
“ On primary healthcare, we did things right because we realised that if we provided basic care for malaria treatment , we would reduce infant and maternal mortality.
“ On anti - corruption, I think we got it right . But did we continue to get things right ?”
Speaking earlier at the occasion , two former governors , Gbenga Daniel ( Ogun State) and Olagunsoye Oyinlola ( Osun State ) had claimed that Obasanjo trod on their toes during his administration .
“ In fact , Baba almost crushed my toes. But Baba is a great man who cares for the nation and wants things to be done the right way , ” Daniel said , with Oyinlola expressing the same sentiment.
A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission , Nuhu Ribadu , in his remarks , praised the former president for his leadership achievements in the country, adding that Obasanjo contributed immensely to his personal career.
“ Things really happened during that period and there were a couple of difficult moments because 99 per cent of the people we arrested were Peoples Democratic Party members .
“ He ( Obasanjo ) exercised self -restraint ; he refused to interfere with the day - to - day running of the EFCC . Obasanjo is a living proof that hard work does not kill . I wish he would never retire . You can’ t afford to retire . ”
Similarly, a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to ex -President Goodluck Jonathan , Dr . Doyin Okupe , while praising Obasanjo during the event , described the ex -president as “a bad man ” who pushed everyone in his team to work hard .
“ Baba is a bad man ; even though he was the oldest in the team, he worked very hard and expected others to do as well. I told him I did not have as much strength as he would expect , Baba retorted , ‘ Ole, ole!’ ( lazybones; thief !) . ”
Comments