Former Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG), Chief Olu Falae says it would be difficult for an honest individual to attain the highest office in the land.
Falae, who contested the 1999 presidency against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, disclosed this in a chat with Daily Independent.
According to him, the brand of politics being practised in the country favours the unscrupulous, who can go to any length to attain power.
He compared unscrupulous politicians to boxers that hit their opponents below the belt.
The former Chairman of Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that while such practice was discouraged in advanced countries of the world, it was permitted in Nigeria, where “jungle politics” reigns.
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Falae, 81, stated that he had never recruited a thug in his entire political life, stressing that unscrupulous politicians routinely did that.
He said, “Throughout my time in politics, I never recruited one thug. When we were going to do SDP presidential primary in 1992, I produced a handbook for all my agents and supporters nationwide. In that handbook, I told them not to rig for me because I don’t want to rule by fraud. I also told them to ensure that the other opponents do not rig me out. Can a man like that win against somebody who said the election is do or die?
“I had the best political machine after Action Group. I had a structure nationwide. The other people had no structure at all. In fact, there were times I felt the competition was unfair because I was just too far ahead of my opponents.
“On the day of the primary, my major opponent was Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. Our supporters are to line up behind our pictures. My line was a hundred metres long while his own line was just a quarter of that. When they started counting for Yar’Adua, they counted 1, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15 and so on. They, however, gave me regressive counting. They counted mine as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. When they get to 10, they will go back to 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on.
“That goes to show you why principled people with commitment to civilised behaviour are at disadvantage.”