Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the over 200 girls abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State may never be found.
Obasanjo said this at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State on Friday night during a programme organised by the OAU Staff Club tagged Seventh Roundtable with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
The former president said nobody might be able to rescue the abducted girls because their whereabouts were unknown.
Asked if there was any hope of rescuing the Chibok girls, Obasanjo said, “The search for the abducted Chibok girls may not be fruitful. Nobody can bring back the girls because they are nowhere to be found.”
He blamed former President Goodluck Jonathan for ignoring the distress call on the mass kidnap of the girls saying, Jonathan did not respond to the call until after 72 hours.
He stated that the response came too late after the girls had been taken far.
According to him, the best the efforts to rescue the girls can yield is that few of the girls may be found.
The former President described the defeat suffered by the Peoples Democratic Party at the 2015 general election as a blessing in disguise for Nigeria.
He expressed happiness that his former political party which brought him to power failed to continue to hold on to power after 16 years.
Responding to a question posed to him on the frequent fight between him and Prof. Wole Soyinka, Obasanjo described Soyinka as a hunter rather than a political analyst.
He said, “I will trust Wole Soyinka as an ‘aparo hunter’ than trusting him as a political analyst. I have no issue with him.”
The former President almost lost his temper when a lecturer asked him why he refused to release money to the National Assembly during his tenure, Obasanjo said the lecturer was oblivious of what happened during his reign and should not attack his intelligence.
“You don’t know so many things that transpired during my administration and so many things were not resolved, so don’t attack my intelligence and personality,” he said.
Unapologetic of his actions and inactions in office, he said he would do all what he did while in office if he had the same opportunity again.
Obasanjo while commending President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against corruption urged Nigerians to support Buhari’s efforts to restore sanity to the country.
He said corruption was one of the major problems confronting the nation but stated that there would be a major improvement in the system if the current administration could win the war.
Responding to a question asked him by a student of Political Science on how political scientists could get opportunity to be in position of authority, Obasanjo said, “You have to get your hands dirty and your feet wet in politics before you can make it. So, I admonish you (students) to work hard in order to gain ground and not rely on godfatherism because I never had any godfather.”