Former president, Chief Olusegun 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.
