FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday defended his choice of the late Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua as his successor in 1997.

Chief Obasanjo, who spoke on Channels TV, refuted some critics' views that he might have applied poor judgment in picking the former Katsina governor to succeed him as President.

The television crew was at the former President's hilltop residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Yar'Adua died in office after a protracted illness, paving the way for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to assume office.

Giving his opinion on some views of those who reviewed his book – My Watch – that he might have subtly alluded to his poor judgment by the way he criticises successive Presidents, Obasanjo maintained that contrary to the sectional views, his administration was guided by facts available and that he made the best judgment in the choice of members of his team and successor.

According to him, those engaging in such criticisms did not have all the facts.

His words: "Even if you take your son as your successor, you are not sure of what he will do when he gets there. Don't ever kid yourself.

"What do I know about any successor? What he presents. When he gets there he presents it differently.

"We did our best, but if you say our best is not good enough, I will say, when it comes to your turn, do better.

"With all the people that are available for successor, what we came up with was about the best that at that time we could think of."

Obasanjo said he could not have selected someone he knew was corrupt for the position of a President.

He said: "Is it the one that we know are corrupt that we will now go and take? No!

"If I give the job to the corrupt, will I be able to defend myself before God and man?" he asked.

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