Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of Nigeria, has explained why, despite being aware of his illness, he chose the late Musa Yar’Adua as his successor.
He claimed he made the choice because Yar’Adua, who underwent a kidney transplant, was deemed fit to serve as President based on medical opinion.
Abubakar Atiku, a former vice president, and Peter Odili, a former governor of Rivers State, were two of the candidates for the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential nomination.
But Obasanjo chose Yar’Adua, who passed away on May 5, 2010, instead.
In an interview with TheCable, the former president refuted claims that he purposefully nominated unqualified individuals out of self-interest.
He said, “I set up a committee headed by Dr. Olusegun Agagu, of blessed memory, to search for a successor. They considered many names and did an extensive assessment of all of them. They made their recommendation. Umaru was top on the list.
“Their biggest argument in his favour was that he had integrity and would not steal. The issues concerning his health were raised and I gave his medical reports to an expert for an opinion. Umaru’s name was redacted so that the expert would not know who it was and why I was seeking his opinion.
“After assessing the reports, he said the patient appeared to have done a kidney transplant and if that was the case, there was nothing to worry about and he would be as healthy as any other person. That was it. All insinuations that I knew he was going to die and that was why I supported him to be president were false. This is the true story I have told you.”
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