Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Sunday, has asked former chief of Army staff, Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (RTD) to account for the people he killed while refuting the allegations that he plotted to kill him as claimed his book.
Obasanjo said this while playing host to members of the Correspondents Chapel, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ogun Chapter, at his hilltop residence in Abeokuta.
The former president explained that his administration only asked Bamaiyi to answer to those that he was alleged to have killed, saying that the decision was legitimate.
“That I wanted to kill him? What of the people he killed? My government did not plot to kill him.
“My government asked him to answer to those that were alleged to have been killed by him and that is legitimate.
“That if there is an allegation that you have done something, that you have committed a crime, then you are arrested, you should answer and that is all.
“Who the hell is he that I would want to kill him? Kill him for what? To achieve what? No! “There were allegations, the police and the law enforcement agencies decided to look into the allegations.
“They invited him and they asked him to answer as a result of what was found, so they charged him to court.
“So, it’s now up to him, the investigators as I said, the prosecutors and the judiciary. That’s all,” Obasanjo said. Newsmen report that Bamaiyi had recently alleged that his incarceration for more than eight years was punishment for opposing the choice of Obasanjo as successor to former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.
The allegation was contained in his book, “Vindication of A General” which was unveiled last weekend in Abuja. Bamaiyi also claimed in the book that the incarceration was to keep him away for fear that he would overthrow the Obasanjo government.
He wrote that as soon as Obasanjo took over, Gen. Abubakar and some of his people told Obasanjo that if he [Bamaiyi] was left free, he would overthrow the government. Speaking on corruption, Obasanjo said investigation must be proper, thorough and undertaken with all seriousness.