'Aspiring Presidents Must Have Military Background'

Former Military Administrator of Lagos State, Brig. - Gen. Mohammed Marwa (rtd), has affirmed that all persons aspiring to the position of president should have a military background.

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Though he admitted that the Constitution gives all Nigerians equal rights to the presidency,Marwa said a President with military backgrond would have an edge over others,given what he described as the orientation and nature of training of military officers.

Marwa, who said he would formally launch his 2007 presidential campaign during the first quarter of 2005, described President Olusegun Obasanjo as a true democrat because "he (Obasanjo) did not just walk into the Aso Rock villa".

There have been sustained misgivings from a cross section of Nigerians over the increased aspiration of retired military officers seeking high political offices, since the return of democratic rule in 1999.

Speaking during an interactive session over dinner with reporters in Kaduna, Marwa insisted that military institution all over the world "Any person who retires from military service and becomes the president, takes along with him, the leadership qualities which were part of the training in the military, the discipline and the patriotism.

"There is no profession throughout the history of mankind that has stood out in sacrifice and nobility than the military. If you go through history, you discover that it is the military that has always been the guarantor of state security and it has always strived to preserve the family system.

"It is for this reason that in other civilized societies, it becomes a problem if you seek high political office without having gone through military service.We must recognise these things and give the military its due.

"If you served your beat and in retirement, you believe you are capable or you have been requested to serve in a higher capacity, I believe you should have the moral right to stand up and take the challenge".Marwa regretted that it was unfair for his critics to dismiss him as lacking the political clouth eeded for a presidential aspirant.He noted that he had been tested in public service.