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Almost seven years after he left office as president, a member of the National Conference Committee on Political Restructuring and Form of Government, Senator Femi Okurounmu, yesterday told members of the committee that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo did not win the 1999 presidential election. Okurounmu further alleged that Obasanjo was merely “anointed” to become president by some power brokers in the country.
He stated this when the committee was debating modalities for rotating electoral positions. The former president who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defeated Chief Olu Falae who was the joint candidate of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
Okurounmu, a member of the AD, said the former president was made president by some non-Yoruba people to pacify the race over the annulment of the June 12, 1993, President election which Chief MKO Abiola presumably won by the military administration of former General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd).
Okuroumu is of the Egba ethnic nationality as Obasanjo and Abiola.
“Obasanjo did not win the election, he was anointed by the powers-that-be to pacify the South-west over the annulment of June 12, 1993, election. We did not vote for him. I have said it to his hearing,” he said.
The delegate who headed the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue, which packaged the ongoing National Conference, canvassed for rotation of power in the country, but that it should not be reflected in the constitution.
Okurounmu also said political parties should not include the zoning system in their constitutions, instead it should be incorporated into the Electoral Act. This, according to him, would guarantee its compliance.
Another member of the committee on zoning policy, Nimi Barigha-Amange, called for the presidential power to be rotated among all the ethnic groups in the country.
According to him, every zone could produce the president of the country.
“Our greatest problem is fear and suspicion and that is why we want everything to be in the constitution. Then if we want zoning, we should zone the presidency to all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria so that all of them will enjoy the presidency.
“Obasanjo was not the best candidate in 1999 contest, but Nigerians decided to give it to South-west for what happened to Chief Moshood Abiola. Nigeria has never had the best as it president,” he said.
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