Nigeria’s former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd.) said he and other concerned Nigerians begged the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba and former Senate President, Pius Anyim, not to impeach former President Olusegun Obasanjo in other to sustain democracy in the country and save his successors from suffering the same fate.
“If the action of the legislature which was to embarrass Chief Obasanjo was allowed to be implemented, those who succeeded him would have faced similar fate,” Gowon said.
Gowon, who spoke at the inaugural public lecture tagged, “Nation Building or Nation Fragmentation: Reflection on 20 years of Post- Military Rule in Nigeria”, in honour of the late Major General Emmanuel Olumuyiwa Abisoye, organized by the Major General Emmanuel Olumuyiwa Abisoye Foundation in partnership with the University of Abuja, noted that the role he and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Ernest Shonekon, among other prominent Nigerians played ensured Obasanjo completed his tenure.
“I can see Alhaji Ghali Na’Abba here and I can assure you that we had some very important discussions and I know that we had to appeal to him and the President of the Senate not to impeach Obasanjo and of course, because of the respect they had for us, they listened to us.
“If we had allowed them to impeach the president at that time of our democracy, no president in Nigeria would have escaped harassment. So, I thank you very much for listening to us,” the former military ruler added
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