independence, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said the country may have been cursed with poor and irresponsible leaders.
Mr. Obasanjo, who gave the keynote address at the
4th Annual Ibadan Sustainable Development Summit
organised by Centre for Sustainable Development,
University of Ibadan, in collaboration with African
Sustainable Development Network, on Tuesday, said
if Nigerians were yet to commend a leader after 53
years of independence, "Then we are jinxed and
cursed; we should all go to hell."
He also condemned the younger generation of leaders in the country, saying they lack integrity and probity and have failed their people woefully.
Making specific reference to his Vice President for
eight years, Atiku Abubakar; former governor of
Lagos State, Bola Tinubu; former Speaker, House of
Representatives, Salisu Buhari; former Bayelsa State
Governor, Deprieye Alamieyeseigha; and others as
younger generation of leaders, the former President
said Nigeria was not lucky even with them.
"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?
"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 still 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.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Isaac
Adewole said he was worried about the fate that
could befall the country as she holds her general
elections in 2015.
"We have not raised question about the scenario
where 35 people found it difficult to conduct credible
election in this country," the don said in reference to
the election of the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors
Forum that has polarized Nigeria's 36 state
governors.
JD:Typically,Obasanjo did not put himself in
context,whereas he has ruled this country for a total
of about 12 years.If there's a hell below,they are all
gonna go…..
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