Former presidential aspirant Professor Pat Utomi says President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Major General, denied Alex Ekwueme the possibility of turning into Nigeria’s President by overthrowing the President Shehu Shagari administration in 1983.
Ekwueme was the nation’s vice-president on the time, and Utomi believed if Buhari had not toppled the then civilian, Ekwueme would have been president in 1987.
The revered economist, who was Special Assistant to Shagari, mentioned Nigeria would have been a higher nation if the army had not taken over governance.
In an interview with This Day, Utomi, whereas recalling the occasions then, mentioned, “I handled the frustration of the system and I stored speaking in regards to the everlasting secretary that labored with me – each day I’d stay awake at night time engaged on what we might change within the system to make it work for the Nigerian folks. Once I started to speak to the PS, he’d say: ‘you know if you do this you’ll step on the toe of the minister of that.’
“One day, I mentioned to him: ‘Mr. PS is there anything that’s attainable to do?’ My level is without doubt one of the nice classes from my expertise was a determination that I made then that I’d by no means return into public life with out important sufficient mass to make a distinction.
“This was the explanation when President Yar’Adua requested me to affix his cupboard and I instructed him I couldn’t give him recommendation, as a result of I didn’t wish to be a token. To his credit score, President Yar’Adua mentioned to me that I’d make a larger distinction inside than from outdoors and I mentioned okay discover seven good folks and I’d be happy to be the eighth after which he threw it again at me and mentioned I ought to discover the seven good folks and include them. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay lengthy sufficient.
“The view I hold about what we’ve been through the years can be found in an interview I gave to the New York Times, January 8, 1984. In that interview, I said Nigeria would one day feel sorry that they had thrown the baby out with the bathwater (as many rejoiced over the coup led by Gen. Buhari that ousted the government of Shagari). I think any living Nigerian with brain will know that Nigeria would have moved further ahead today if that coup didn’t take place on December 31, 1983, although – in my view – I was convinced that the coup was done to prevent Dr. Alex Ekwueme from becoming the president in 1987.”