OBASANJO: MY BEST APPOINTEES AS PRESIDENT WERE SOLUDO AND OKONJO-IWEALA

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By Adeniyi Onaara

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recalled his interaction with Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo and current World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as appointees on Saturday.

He stated they were among the best appointments he made as President.

The former Nigerian leader also criticized “persistent” discrimination against persons of southeastern descent, dubbed “Igbophobia.”

Obasanjo spoke during an occasion marking Governor Soludo’s first year in office.

Soludo was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during Obasanjo’s government, which lasted from 1999 to 2007, while Okonjo-Iweala was the Minister of Finance.

According to the former President, Soludo, who worked closely with him as an economic adviser, “never misadvised me,” and the economist’s performance impressed him so much that he was asked to manage the apex bank.

Soludo was the second Nigerian CBN governor who was not a commercial banker, according to the 85-year-old statesman.

However, the ex-president stated that soon after hiring the academic, he encountered a dissenting voice.

“Someone approached me and said, ‘Wow! You have destroyed Nigeria’s economy.”I inquired, ‘How?’ ‘An Igbo woman as Minister of Finance; an Igbo guy as Governor of the Central Bank?’ he said. Then you have definitely fulfilled the aim of destroying Nigeria’s economy.’

“I’m not sure why he said that, other than Igbophobia, which I don’t take lightly.” It remains, it endures.”But what do we do with that type of stuff that was mentioned to me and the type of thing that you know is going on, as I just termed it?”I believe we must return to the scriptures, which state that we must defeat evil with good.

“And whoever you are, wherever people are afraid of you, you must make yourself friendly to those who are afraid of you, and earn their friendship by being good to them,” Obasanjo stated.

The former president noted from his personal experience, nothing wins friendship like one being friendly.

He added that the appointments of Okonjo-Iweala and Soludo were “probably the best of the appointments that I made when I was president”.