Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has described Nigeria as a nation cursed with poor and irresponsible leaders.
Baba Iyabo, as he’s fondly called gave this shocking assertion on Tuesday while delivering a keynote address at the 4th Annual Ibadan Sustainable Development Summit organised by Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Ibadan, in conjunction with African Sustainable Development Network.
Obasanjo lamented that after 53 years of independence, Nigerians were yet to commend a leader, “Then we are jinxed and cursed; we should all go to hell.”
The retired military general turned farmer also took a swipe on the younger generation of leaders in Nigeria, noting that they have failed their people woefully.
Obasanjo said Nigeria were not lucky with younger leaders such as: ex Vice Presiden, Atiku Abubakar; former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu; former Speaker, House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari; former Bayelsa State Governor, Deprieye Alamieyeseigha and others.
He said, “We had some people who were under 50years in leadership positions. One of them was James Ibori, where is he today? One of them was Alamieyeseigha, where is he today? Lucky Igbinedion, where is he today?
“The youngest was the Speaker, (Salisu) Buhari; you can still recall what happened to him. You said Bola Tinubu is your master. What Buhari did was not anything worse than what Bola Tinubu did.
“We got them impeached. But in this part of the world some people covered up the other man. The man claimed he went to Government College, Ibadan but the governor (Oyo State) went to Government College and packed all the documents so that they would not know that he did not go there.
“I wanted someone who would succeed me so I took Atiku. Within a year, I started seeing the type of man Atiku is. And you want me to get him there?
Continuing, he added, “I once went to Tanzania because Julius Nyerere recognised Biafra. He told me not to mind his aides and others in government. They would say they have one house in town but their five year old sons and daughters would have houses all over.
“Some of you who are condemning the leadership would get there tomorrow and it will be a different story. Only very few are actually good.
“Abacha, my predecessor got $750m. Through our lawyer in Switzerland, we recovered $1.25bn and the lawyer still said there is probably another $1bn to be recovered. In 1979, we had 20 new ships specially built for Nigeria. When I came back 20 years after, the national shipping line had liquidated.
“The whole thing is not just about leadership. If we talk about good leadership you should also talk about good followers. If you talk about human right you should also talk about human duties and obligations.
“It is sad that after 53years of independence we have no leader that we can commend. The problem in Africa is that when one person takes over he would not see any good thing that his predecessor did. Let us condemn but with caution,” the former military ruler and two-term democractically elected president said.
Source: DailyPost
