Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko actually made efforts to get President Muhammadu Buhari disqualified as presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2015 presidential elections, as revealed in the book ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria’ authored by former Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, renowned journalist and publisher Chief Dele Momodu confirmed on Thursday at the launch of the book in Abuja.
Momodu while speaking as Book Presenter at the launch which held at the Yar’ Adua Center, Abuja, said he personally reached out to former Attorney General and Minister of Justice under the Jonathan administration, Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN who confirmed that the details in Abdullahi’s book were accurate.
“Naturally and expectedly, this book is going to stir a lot of controversy not because it is a work of fiction but because some of the facts are still very fresh and raw and some of the dramatis personae may not want them in public domain. Some online media have already tantalised us with a few of the juicy passages and we’ve seen denials galore from people who are even yet to read the book. But I’ve tried to do something without informing Bolaji about it. I have spoken to a few of the principal actors and they have majorly corroborated Bolaji’s accounts. One of them even agreed to speak publicly, and followed up with a written statement on what transpired behind the curtains. He is no less a personage than the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke and please permit me to quote him:
“FURTHER TO OUR DISCUSSION SIR, I HEREBY CONFIRM THAT WHAT BOLAJI WROTE IN HIS BOOK IN RESPECT OF MIMIKO PUTTING PRESSURE ON ME TO ISSUE A FIAT TO PROSECUTE PMB (BUHARI) IS TRUE.
A LAWYER HAD PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN TO SEEK MY FIAT TO PROSECUTE PMB FOR FORGERY AND I DECLINED ON THE GROUND THAT THERE WERE NO MATERIALS PLACED BEFORE ME TO EXERCISE MY DISCRETION AND THAT THE REQUEST DOES NOT SATISFY THE LEGAL THRESHOLD FOR ME TO EXERCISE MY DISCRETION TO GRANT FIAT TO PROSECUTE GENERAL BUHARI.
SUBSEQUENT TO THAT, I WAS CALLED BY GOVERNOR MIMIKO WHO TRIED TO PREVAIL ON ME TO ISSUE THE FIAT FOR POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY AND I REFUSED BY MAKING IT VERY CLEAR TO HIM THAT THE LEGAL THRESHOLD FOR THE EXERCISE OF MY DISCRETION HAS NOT BEEN MET AND THAT IN ANY CASE ASSUMING GENERAL BUHARI HAS NO SECONDARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATE, HE HAS THE EQUIVALENT OF A SCHOOL CERTIFICATE AS HE IS A RETIRED GENERAL AND A FORMER HEAD OF STATE AND THUS SATISFIED THE REQUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE CONSTITUTION TO CONTEST THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.
I FURTHER INFORMED HIM THAT THE COURT OF APPEAL BENIN HAS SETTLED THE LAW IN THAT ASPECT. I LEFT HIM AND PROCEEDED TO BRIEF THE PRESIDENT ON MY ENCOUNTER WITH GOVERNOR MIMIKO AND MY RESPONSE TO HIS REQUEST. PRESIDENT JONATHAN AGREED WITH ME AND SAID I SHOULD UPHOLD THE LETTERS OF THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAW…”
Adoke also sent an addendum soon thereafter: “AND I ADDED THAT HE (BUHARI) ATTENDED THE WAR COLLEGE IN THE UNITED STATES AS A SERVING GENERAL AND AS SUCH MORE THAN QUALIFIED TO CONTEST…”
Momodu also noted that he has read accounts of how President Goodluck Jonathan nearly changed his mind after congratulating candidate Buhari and wanted to use PDP operatives and apparatus to challenge the authenticity and validity of the election results in the courts but the then PDP Chairman Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu blatantly refused to support such a move.
“When we spoke last week, he confirmed it was a true account of what happened and said President Jonathan was under intense pressure from different friends and associates not to give up power. He insists that his decision was to save his flagbearer from agents of chaos and save Nigeria from even bigger and unnecessary catastrophe! He said President Jonathan had achieved what has never happened in Nigeria and would have lost so much had he rescinded his early and earlier congratulations to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari. Rather than accuse Mu’azu of betraying his party, he should be commended for promoting the finest tenets of democracy; if you lose election, please GO IN PEACE. He’s proud that through his patriotic act, President Jonathan has successfully joined the distinguished company of world’s statesmen and he is much respected for that status throughout the world today.
“I must note that Bolaji has done a very painstaking job in this book and I believe we must all endeavour to learn lessons from the tragedy that befell PDP and the Jonathan government. One of the biggest problems bedevilling our country is that of our inability to learn any lessons from history”, Momodu said.
Present at the launch were the Chief Host and Host, President of the Senate, H.E. Dr. Bukola Saraki, CON and the Governor of Kwara State, H.E. Abdulfatah Ahmed respectively. Chairman of the occasion was the Governor of Borno State, H.E. Kashim Shettima. The book reviewers were Prof. Adigun Agbaje and Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene.
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