Obasanjo: Amaechi became gov through awkward S’Court ruling
Seven years after propounding the K-leg theory which denied Governor Chibuike Amaechi the PDP governorship ticket in the 2007 election, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said yesterday he believed he did the right thing at the time.
Obasanjo, who was on a two-day visit to Rivers State, said he took the decision to stop Amaechi from contesting the election based on a report presented to him.
Obasanjo, as president in 2007, denied Amaechi PDP ticket to contest the governorship election, even though he had won the primaries. At the time, Obasanjo said Amaechi’s guber ticket had a “K-leg”.
Celestine Omehia was later called up and presented as the PDP candidate in the election. He won the election and was sworn in as governor.
Six months later, Amaechi reclaimed his mandate via a Supreme Court verdict.
Speaking in Port Harcourt yesterday, Obasanjo said: “When you invited me to visit Rivers State to commission projects, many people advised me not to come because of security reasons. There is nothing as dangerous as fear. At my age I should not be afraid of death. We should not politicize everything but to acknowledge development, and so, I have seen a bit.
“Governor Amaechi talked about K-leg. I believe that as a leader, when I have something that required an action, I will take decision. A report came which indicated K-leg, I had to act. So I took the decision I took based on the report before me.
“But the governor went to court to strengthen the K-leg. I found the judgment awkward because I wondered how someone that did not contest an election should be declared governor. At the Supreme Court he won and that marked the end of the K-leg. The K-leg is strengthened, anybody that is not satisfied with that verdict should appeal to the supreme being.
“Again, some people tried to discourage me from coming to Rivers. They said why should I honour the invitation of a man who cancelled a street named after me? But I am not bothered about people naming streets after me. I would prefer a situation where my name is written in the minds of Nigerians and not people naming streets after me. So if I had turned down the invitation of the governor I would have been so petty,” he said.
Obasanjo urged Amaechi not to blame his predecessor for the K-leg saga but hold him responsible for his actions.
“We should embrace love in our politics. Whatever thing we do as political leaders is transit. If you cover the achievements of your predecessor, you will not have time to achieve your own. Rather, you should consolidate on what you met on ground. I phoned Rotimi not to take anything against his predecessor. I was fully in charge at the time I took the decision I took and I should be held responsible,” he added.
He commended the governor for his achievements on infrastructure and urged him to do more for the people of the state.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Amaechi said the state government decided to invite the former president to showcase the governor’s achievements and prove critics wrong.
“We wanted Baba to come to Rivers State and see what we have achieved. We intend to showcase to him what we have done and rectify the wrong and negative impression the K-leg saga created,” he said.
“One of our detractors said the schools we built were located only in Port Harcourt. We want to use Baba’s visit to prove our critics wrong,” he added.