- My 3 years in Yola Prison made me a better President – Obasanjo
By Billy Graham Abel, Yola
The former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has praised the Adamawa state governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, describing him as a clear demonstration of purpose, commitment and dedication that makes a great country.
Obasanjo said Nigeria is still on the right path of its democratic journey which started twenty-five years ago.
Obasanjo said that despite the numerous challenges democracy has faced in the country, the power to envision and build a flyover, and underpass, connected to networks of roads in northeast Nigeria only proves that Nigeria can learn from its mistakes and move forward to doing great things as is clearly illustrated by Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.
Obasanjo made the remarks at the commissioning of the first-grade interchange, flyover and underpass in the northeast in Yola, Adamawa state.
Obasanjo commended the urban renewal project of the Fintiri-led administration and challenged the governor to delve deeper into addressing issues of insecurity which he said has bedevilled the country and has decimated the majority of Nigerians from their natural habitat thus halting the production and the growth of the economy.
“Exactly twenty-five years ago, we started a democratic journey in this country and now a quarter of a century we are still on that journey undisturbed.
“There are people who will say that we are not where we should be, I will not argue with them but then we are still on that journey,” Obasanjo maintains.
Speaking on his time in Yola Prison, he said, “When I was here in Yola, the late lamido took me as his child, not only was he sending regular messages to me at the prison he also provided for me. He sent a refrigerator to my cell that I still have in my presidential library today.
“The late Lamido made my stay here in Yola for well over three years comfortable and that made an impact in my life.
“I have said it on many occasions, the fact that I was here made my performance as an elected president of Nigeria better than it would have been.”
Commending the infrastural development in Adamawa, he said, “I never thought that in my lifetime, there will be a flyover in Yola Jimeta. I never thought there would be an underpass but you have made it happen. You just showed it can be done and you have done it and you would do a lot more by the grace of God,
“We must not forget rural development and particularly the issues of insecurity which has brought many of our people from the rural areas to urban areas.
“We have to do our utmost best to ensure security so that our people can go back to their natural habitat which is close to them and then of course they would go on to produce food and live their normal lives.
“If we can take care of security, the issue of development in the rural areas will be resolved because then there will be job creation, wealth creation, empowerment, and indeed good life for our people whether they live in the rural area or in the urban area.”
Speaking at the event, the Adamawa state governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri said at the onset of his journey as governor, his vision for creating an overhead bridge, underpass and flyover was met with criticism and negative comments but he was determined to achieve his dream of the creation of a modern Adamawa state.
Gov. Fintiri said, “For those of us conversant with this location in the capital, it is truly gratifying to note that the old police roundabout has been supplanted by the overhead bridge and a grade interchange with underpass, a more befitting edifice and the first of its kind in this part of the country.
“This is one project with a short but interesting story. Like most of our projects, when we did the groundbreaking ceremony, sceptics went wild with their usual doubts, “It cannot be done”. Someone had the guts to tell me that I was digging a pit at the centre of the city without the knowledge of how I was going to fill it.
“To the glory of God, today, it is not only done but done excellently and on record time.
“This is perhaps, the fastest delivered project of its kind in this part of the world.
“To those sceptics who doubted its completion, I invite you to continue to enjoy what only vision, courage and commitment can accomplish.
The significance of a project of this nature in the heart of a city like Yola, cannot be overemphasized.
“When it became evident that the project was coming into fruition, pessimists changed their message of a campaign of calumny to “it is not a priority now, because the traffic situation in Yola is not yet as overbearing as to warrant the necessity for an overhead bridge”. And I ask; what is a priority? If not now then, when? If not done by us, then who?
“We may choose to shy away, as it was done in the past, from the fact that we are not far from the kind of chaotic traffic situations that are obtained in other cities a few years from now; but we cannot deny the significance of being proactive to the fact that it is a reality waiting to happen. We must not wait until the population bursts to the level of disorder and our roads are taken over by gridlocks.”