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| Olusegun Obasanjo |
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he should be held responsible for the travails of the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, before and after the 2007 governorship election.
Obasanjo explained that rather than blame Dr. Peter Odili, who was Amaechi’s predecessor, the state governor should realise that he (Obasanjo) was fully in charge and responsible for his (Amaechi) woes.
It will be recalled that Obasanjo surprisingly denied Amaechi the PDP governorship ticket during the buildup to the 2007 general election in Rivers State, declaring the Ikwerre-born politician’s case as having K-leg.
K-leg is a euphemism used by Obasanjo in 2007 to describe the reason why he would not give Amaechi the governorship ticket during the period.
The matter was later resolved by the Supreme Court, which declared Amaechi the governor of Rivers State five months later.
Speaking on Monday in Eleme Local Government Area while commissioning some projects executed by the Amaechi administration, the former President added that he had no apologies for taking such decision seven years ago.
“I want to acknowledge your courage. I phoned the governor; I hope he will remember and I said, ‘Governor Amaechi, don’t take anything against your predecessor because whatever decision was taken about you, hold me responsible, not your predecessor because I was overall in charge.
“So, if anything has been done because I took a decision that I believe is right, that I believe I should take when I took it, I have no apologies. This is because I don’t take decisions lightly,” Obasanjo said.
On Amaechi’s governorship ambition that was declared to have a K-leg, the former President argued that since the Supreme Court had delivered its verdict in favour of Amaechi, the issue of K-leg had come to an end.
Recalling that at a time, he was one of those that felt the Supreme Court’s verdict was awkward, Obasanjo said those who were not satisfied with the ruling should wait for the judgement of the ‘Supreme Being’.
Reacting to the criticism surrounding his invitation to the state, Obasanjo said he was not afraid of death and would not quarrel over the renaming of a road that was initially named after him.
He said, “Well, if he (Amaechi) said that the road should not be named after me, what is the quarrel? Why should I quarrel about that? If in the course of that, they invite me and I did not come, that will mean I am petty; I am mean and I don’t deserve to be honoured.”
Earlier, Amaechi said that he brought the former President to showcase to what he has achieved in the past seven years, describing Obasanjo as a good leader.
Amaechi pointed out that he got the idea of the model school from Achimota in Ghana while he was in exile in the West African country.
In a related development, the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State has accused Obasanjo of being at the forefront of the current political crisis in the state following the declaration of Amaechi’s governorship ambition in as K-leg.
The state PDP recalled that Obasanjo in 2006 had denied Amaechi the PDP governorship ticket, adding that the people of the state deserve to know the outcome of the charges and investigations on the governor.
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