Picking Atiku as my running mate was one of my biggest Mistake – Olusegun Obasanjo

Former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, says that one of his biggest mistakes was picking Presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in his term.

He said this at an event held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State which had students present, with exhibition of some products made by the students.

He responded to many questions and went down memory lane as he said he had made many genuine mistakes in his life but God helped him overcome.

He said: “One of the mistakes I made was picking my Number Two (referring to Atiku) when I wanted to become the President. But because it was a genuine mistake, God saved me.

“The second one (mistake) was when Abacha wanted to arrest me. When. Abacha wanted to arrest me, I was told by the American ambassador that they will arrest me and that America has asked that I should be given an asylum. I said no. It could have been a mistake because I could have lost my life.

“I will say there are many things that could have been a mistake but God saved me from them all”.

He also lamented on the nature of Nigeria politics where youths are not given the opportunity to lead, where it is people in their 80’s that are pushing for presidency. He also said one of the reasons is because of the money involved. Nigeria’s politics is Money politics, but he encouraged the youths not to give up.

“Not Too Young to Run” campaign, and you can see that those that are contesting now are between 70 and 80 years old, how can the youths run?

“Another thing inhibiting youth from running is the amount of money involved in going into politics. I hope that things should not continue like this.

“I was 39 years old when I became the Military Head of State. Twenty years later, I came back as civilian president, but those there now do not want to allow the youths. If things continue like this, I do not know how you can come in.” Former president Olusegun said.

He also encouraged the youths to live right regardless of the religion they practice, and to practice their religion the way God wants them to.

“Young people should learn at a very early get in life that if there are five religions in the world, that is how God wants it to be. If there are ten, that is how God wants it. All religions originate from the same source.

“If you are a Muslim and you did not live the way the God wants you to live, you cannot enter Aljannah. If you are a Christian and you did not live the way God wants you to live, the same thing, you will not enter paradise.

“If this is the basis of religion is doing the right thing for the benefits of mankind, you don’t have to condemn any person because of what he believed.

“I do not believe that any religion is superior to mine and I don believe that mine is superior to another person’s beliefs. I will not allow any person to cast aspersions to my religion and will not do same for another person. Practice your religion the way God wants you to do it and don’t condemn another person”.