Former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd) has explained what transpired between him and former President Olusegun Obasanjo after he released the former from prison in 1998.
Abdulsalami revealed this in an interview with Trust TV.
Obasanjo was among the many prominent Nigerians incarcerated by the regime of the late General Sani Abacha over alleged attempted coup.
He was however freed by Abdulsalami after the death of Abacha in 1998.
Abdulsalami explained how he released those political prisoners and rehabilitated them.
He said, “We released Obasanjo and other prisoners and pardoned them. So, when Obasanjo was released he came to see me, saying he was going to take the government to court. ‘Why are you going to do that?’ He said his business was crumbled by the military, his human rights have been violated, that he did not commit any coup and so on and so forth. I said ‘Sir, please let bygone be bygone, thank God you are alive today, forget about these things. Some of the issues you mentioned, within my power I will look into that, so we left it at that.”
When he was asked how he rehabilitate Obasanjo, the former military leader said, “Like I had all other prisoners! What do you mean by I had to rehabilitate him?
“Of course not only him, all people that were imprisoned in one way or the other, we tried to rehabilitate them; to help them in one way or the other.”
Abdulsalami was head of state for nine months after Abacha’s death.
He eventually conducted elections and handed over to Obasanjo on May 29, 1999.
