Former military Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s administration initially wanted to hand over power to Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, Marafan Sokoto in 1999 before it was overruled by a military cabal, national chairman of newly registered National Rescue Movement (NRM) Senator Sa’iduMohammed Dansadau said in Abuja yesterday. He spoke at the 15th Daily Trust Dialogue.
Disagreeing with Alhaji Sule Lamido’s presentation on the events of 1999, Dansadau said, “The truth of the matter is that the Abdulsalami administration out of its own volition resolved, because when you are transiting from a military to a civilian administration, the incumbent government would decide on who takes over. They had resolved to hand over power to Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi of blessed memory, and he (Shinkafi) had a meeting with Abdulsalam Abubakar and Alhaji Abba Musa Rimi, who was his political adviser. And Abdulsalam told Shinkafi that people are coming to us, typical of a transition period, asking us which party they would join. So, he said anybody who comes to us to ask, I will tell Abba Musa Rimi to call for your attention so that he will direct people to come to you. And Abba Musa Rimi also said to Umaru Shinkafi, ‘I know you are going to be very busy, do you have somebody that I can send people too?’ He said ‘yes’, Dansadau. Abba Rimi said‘I know him’. That was how he took me to his house, he took my telephone number and other things, and he started sending people to us.
“I am talking about the interest you are talking about, because of the interest of certain section of the Nigerian military, that to turn Nigeria into another Egypt, retired military officer after retired military officer in a democracy. And that was where the idea came to release Olusegun Obasanjo from prison, give him pardon and to make him presidential candidate.
“Lamido didn’t support Obasanjo at the convention; he supported Alex Ekwueme because he knew that Obasanjo was the candidate of the military. And as God would have it, the military had their way and Obasanjo became presidential candidate. So, my good friend don’t claim credit for what you have not done.”
Dansadau also expressed concern over what he termed the proliferation of political parties in Nigeria.Dansadau, whose party was among those newly registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said, “If care is not taken, we may have (in 2019) a ballot paper that is one kilometre long. The National Assembly must do something. There is no point having a political party that has participated in election two, three times and that party has never won even a councillorship seat and you allow it to continue to exist.”
On the challenges of 2019, Dansadau said people are now putting themselves first before the nation, which is why Nigeria is fast drifting. He said, “People attain power but don’t know the purpose of power. The purpose of power is to serve God and humanity. Nigeria is at a crossroads. Where we are today is beyond partisan politics. If we allow Nigeria to continue to drift, we may have no Nigeria or end up close to Somalia.” The former senator also said he returned to politics after seeing the challenges faced by the current administration two years into its term, adding that those who failed to contribute their quota to nation building will answer a query on the Day of Judgment.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
