Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo has revealed why he
turned down an offer by his
“foreign friends” to break him
out of prison after the late
Maj.-Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua died
in detention.
Obasanjo disclosed this during
the 20th memorial anniversary
of Yar’Adua’s death in Abuja,
on Friday.
The former President revealed
that he was in South Africa
when he received news the
first time Yar’Adua was
arrested.
He further explained that on
his return to Nigeria, he
confronted late Gen. Sani
Abacha to demand an
explanation why Yar’Adua was
detained.
Obasanjo said, “I asked the
man (Abacha) who arrested
him (Yar’Adua) and the man
who arrested him said to me
that he did not know that
Shehu had been arrested, and
I said, Mr. Head of State, tell
that to the marines. There is
no way the number two man
of a country at one time would
be arrested without your
knowledge.
“Soon after that, Shehu was
released, but he was released
only for a short time. When he
was arrested for the second
time, I was arrested along
with him and we were in
separate locations thereafter.
“Our destiny — the verdict
had been given of what would
happen to us. We met in
Kirikiri Prison and I believed
that was a mistake. That was
the last time we actually stayed
together. We had about three
nights together, we were able
to talk, think and work
together.”
Yar’Adua (1943 – 1997), a
retired major general, had
served as the Chief of Staff,
Supreme Headquarters under
Obasanjo’s military
government from 1977 to
1979.
He (Yar’Adua), Obasanjo,
Lawan Gwadabe (a former
military administrator of Niger
State) and others were
arrested in March 1995 on
allegations of plotting a coup
to overthrow the Abacha
regime.
Yar’Adua was thereafter
sentenced to death by a
military tribunal in 1995, after
calling on the military
government of Abacha and his
Provisional Ruling Council to
reestablish civilian rule.
The sentence was commuted
to life in prison, but Yar’Adua
died while in detention on
December 8, 1997.
Speaking on the incident on
Friday, Obasanjo said it was
unfortunate that the strategy
he and his former deputy
(Yar’Adua) worked on did not
work out.
The former President said,
“When Shehu died in prison,
my international friends
decided that they would use a
commando plan to get me out
of prison and they actually did.
They made the plan, they
raised the money and their
plan was to get a helicopter to
take me out of Yola prison and
take me into Cameroon and
they sent a message to me.
“But I told them that if you did,
I would not come out of
prison and that was when
they dropped the idea of
using commando effort to get
me out because that would
have defeated what we stood
for, and we stood to face
whatever consequences
standing for Nigeria would
cost us.
“It cost Shehu Yar’Adua his life.
Those of us who believed in
what Shehu Yar’Adua believed
in are still alive. I think the only
thing we can do is to allow the
struggle to continue and we
are not at the end of the
struggle. If anything, we are in
the middle of the struggle.”
Also speaking during the
event, Kola, son of late Chief
Moshood Abiola, who read a
tribute to the late Yar’Adua,
said the late general lived a life
of sacrifice worthy of
emulation.
In an e-mail, a member of the
Board of Trustees of the
Yar’Adua Foundation, Alhaji
Atiku Abubakar, described the
deceased as an inspiration.
Atiku, who served as Vice
President under Obasanjo,
revealed how Yar’Adua
inspired him through his
“extraordinary courage and
organisational and
mobilisation skills”.
Atiku described Yar’Adua as a
fearless politician who was
not ready to compromise his
principles at the expense of
the cause he was fighting.
The e-mail by his media office
partly read, “The Waziri
Adamawa noted that although
Yar’Adua was a military man,
his passion for democracy
was amazing and his courage
extraordinary.
“Atiku also explained that
Yar’Adua’s patriotism and
commitment to Nigeria’s unity
and peaceful coexistence was
one of the remarkable virtues
that attracted him to the
Katsina general.
“According to Atiku, Shehu
Musa Yar’Adua was not a timid
democrat who abandoned his
beliefs because of fear or
opportunistic reasons for
political survival.”
Atiku further explained that
during the 1994/95 National
Constitutional Conference,
Yar’Adua was among the few
voices that told Abacha not to
stay longer than one year in
office and prepare a transition
programme within the
shortest time frame.
He said Yar’Adua’s position
turned out to be inconsistent
with Abacha’s “hidden
agenda,” and that from that
moment, Yar’Adua became a
marked man.
Former Vice President
Abubakar said his being
mentored by Yar’Adua was
enduring to his political life,
especially as it related to the
unity of Nigeria and the
promotion and defence of it.

Source:
http://punchng.com/why-i-turned-down-foreign-offer-to-break-me-out-of-prison-obasanjo/

You should have taken the offer and Nigeria would have been a better place today

How unfortunate one of Africa's most corrupt men Sayin dS trash...I shake my head.

SalamRushdie:
You should have taken the offer and Nigeria would have been a better place today

that's expected from you
Pele Bawo lara e

hmm

Obj and lies, offer from who , when . if this offer was possible it would also have been easier to even prevent you from going to prison in the first place.

You are the only president and only General that went to prison

Baba ur story no dey finish? B'cos Sani Abacha don die? Was it not u guys that kept us like dis? From inception u guys have been fighting to out-wit each other @Dodanbarracks for personal gains not for anything good for d masses?

.

make obj go sit down. is he any better than innocent Nigerians still cooling their ass in prison as of today? he has keep many innocent Nigerians than abacha. steal even more.

they never served Nigeria. Nigerians serve them. he should go one conner go sleep

lies lies lies lies lies as usual.