Former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida has explained why he supported Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to emerge President in 1999.
He made the disclosure in a viral interview with Arise News on Friday while reacting to secessionist agitations in some sections of the country.
Babangida said that everyone has the right to agitate but agitators must know that Nigeria’s unity is non-negotiable.
The former military ruler said it was therefore important for any person that would emerge as president to believe wholeheartedly in Nigeria’s unity.
He said it was for this reason that he backed Obasanjo in 1999.
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“We always believe that the person who should run the country must believe in Nigeria and that is why we supported Olusegun Obasanjo for President. If he didn’t believe in Nigeria, we would not go for him at all.
“Even if it is democratically or militarily imposed, you must have that core belief. It is good to agitate for what you want but because there is this belief that this country should be one and when you talk about war, you see that Nigerians usually don’t want anything that would disturb their peace of mind.
“When we were in the military, we talked about certain issues and the unity of Nigeria was one of them. As far as we were concerned, the unity of Nigeria, free market, federalism were all settled issues.
“The unity of Nigeria for us was non-negotiable. We decided to be one many years ago. Why should we keep on repeating conferences on how to remain one? There are issues we should not still be talking about now. We have already decided that Nigeria will remain united, so what we should be talking about is how to strengthen the unity of the country,” Babangida said.