Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in Abuja, on Tuesday, said he had no apologies for retiring military officers perceived to have been tainted by politics in 1999.
Obasanjo, speaking at the public presentation of a book, entitled: “The First Regular Combatant: Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari OFR,” said he owed no one an apology for retiring all politically-exposed military officers at the inception of his administration in 1999.
Also speaking at the event, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said the abolition of history in the curriculum was responsible for successive poor leadership in the country.
Obasanjo, who paid tribute to a son of Maimalari, also a former military administrator Obasanjo retired in 1999, Lieutenant-Colonel Abubakar Maimalari, said he took the decision to engender fertile environment for the nascent democracy to survive.
“I have no apology but I have explanations, it is because it is necessary to stop the sort of thing that took the life of your father prematurely that I had to take decision that all those who have tasted power they should never have tasted in political offices while they were soldiers, we should ease them out of the army so that we can have an army that will be completely free from political aberration.
“And so far, since 1999, I think we seem to have got it right. Let us hope that we will continue to get it right and learn the right lessons that Nigeria has had enough sacrifices by those victims; that Nigeria
deserves peace, unity and democracy. And may the sacrifices of the life of Brigadier Zak Maimalari be sufficient to give this country peace, development, unity and progress,” he said.
He also condemned incessant military incursion in the nation’s polity, adding that he prayed that such misadventure never happened again.
The acting president, who was represented by the Minister of Water Resources, Mr Sulaiman Adamu, said Nigeria had been affected by poor leadership and bad governance because the educational system did away with the study of history, which should have thought the youth the idealism and heroism of the past.
“Without a grounding in history, how do we know who we are, where we come from and, more importantly, as a people, where are we going?, he asked.”
Chairman on the occasion and former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, said the January 15, 1966 military coup was responsible for the seed of disunity in the nation’s armed forces.
He described Maimalari as a kind and upright man, adding that he was a professional and courageous soldier.
Credit: Tribune
