A former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, says he still does not know how the then Governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, emerged as the running mate to the late President, Umaru Yar’adua in 2007.
Daniel said this during a chat with journalists to announce his 60th birthday in Ogun State on Saturday.
The former governor of Ogun State added that the name of the then Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili, had been written down in a speech and was to be read in public by Yar’adua announcing Odili as his running mate. He said himself and the then Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, had already seen the speech and congratulated Odili only for Jonathan to be announced later as Yar’adua’s running mate. Jonathan went on to become President when Yar’adua died in office.
Daniel said, “When we were governors, I used to sit down next to Yar'adua at NEC meetings at the Villa. Yar'adua was never interested in the presidency. Often times, he would excuse himself to go and smoke a cigarette and come back. Tinubu, who should have been sitting next to Yar'adua since Katsina and Lagos were next to each other alphabetically, used to shun meetings because he was fighting Obasanjo.
One day, Baba Iyabo (ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo) called me and said we should support Yar’adua for President and that was it and I said as your Excellency pleases. Yar’adua never came to campaign in Ogun State. The day he was supposed to campaign, he was sick and you will remember the historic phone call that Obasanjo made to Yar’adua from the campaign ground.
“Now, Jonathan was not part of it. I was there, Yar’adua’s speech was ready. The last part was to announce Odili as the VP. I have the speech. It was about 3am. We left Ogun Pavillion, Oyinlola left Osun and we then went to Port Harcourt.
“We sat with Odili and we were just saying we were waiting for the speech and we had congratulated him because we had seen the speech. About 3.15am, I bade him farewell and I went to sleep. But when I woke up about 7am, people asked if I had heard what happened.
“I asked what happened and they said they did not announce anybody (as VP candidate) at all but I said I was in possession of the speech. I asked what was going on and then all of a sudden, they said it is now Jonathan and I said Jona what! And that was how he became VP.”
Daniel said all those who have led the country have always been picked by internal consensus, adding that it was nearly impossible for anyone to become President.
He said Nigerian history had shown that it is usually those who are not interested in the presidency that emerges as President or VP.
President Muhammadu Buhari, it will be recalled, had given up on his presidential ambition until leaders in the All Progressives Congress prevailed on him to run one more time.
He, therefore, stated that he was not gunning for any political position but would remain as an elder statesman, giving advice to politicians from the sidelines.
Daniel said, “The first leader we had in Nigeria was Alhaji Tafawa Balewa. He didn’t want to be the Prime Minister. They offered Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, but he said he would prefer to stay in the North as Premier and that was how the teacher from nowhere became the prime minister.
“In the case of Shehu Shagari, he said he wanted to go to the Senate. All the prominent leaders that were fighting for the presidency such as Maitama Sule and others did not get it.
“In the case of baba Iyabo (Olusegun Obasanjo), he came from prison, they more or less handed it to him. In the case of Obasanjo, it was people that were fighting for the position of the VP such as Abubakar Rimi, Babagana Kingibe and others but it was Atiku Abubakar who had already won the governorship in Adamawa State that was picked and given the VP position.
“If you remember the one of Shagari, all those that were jostling for the VP position were ignored and they just looked for one architect called Alex Ekwueme who was not even a politician that got the position.”
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