Former President Olusegun Obasanjo dissected
yesterday the poor leadership problem
confronting Africa and lampooned the younger
generation of leaders as a failure.
Obasanjo, who gave a keynote address at the
summit on leadership failure in Africa, posited
that his generation led the way with
purposeful, progressive, visionary leadership
marked by accountability and probity. He
stressed that younger generation of leaders,
however, failed to continue with the good
legacy that his generation left.
The former president spoke at the 4th Annual
Ibadan Sustainable Development Summit
organised by the Centre for Sustainable
Development (CESDEV), University of Ibadan
(UI), in collaboration with African Sustainable
Development Network (ASUDNET).
Commenting on poor leadership in Africa,
Obasanjo noted that the crop of younger
generation of leaders failed the citizens.
The former president also lumpooned former
Vice President Atiku Abubakar with the “failed
generation of leaders”, saying it was the reason
he did not hand over to him.
He specifically labelled Atiku as a betrayer
while making reference to others who failed to
live up to expectation when he invited them to
serve.
Obasanjo listed the failed leaders to include
former House of Representatives Speaker Salisu
Buhari; former Bayelsa State Governor,
Deprieye Alamieseigha; former Edo State
Governor Lucky Igbinedion, former Delta State
Governor James Ibori; and and his counterpart
in Abia State during the last dispensation, Orji
Uzor Kalu.
Though he listed former Lagos State Governor
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to the list, Obasanjo
quickly paused and avoided further comments
on him. Tinubu is one of the national leaders
of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Referring to his administration as president in
his answer to a question. The Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) chief said: “We had
some people who were under 50 years in
leadership positions. One of them was James
Ibori; where is he today? One of them was
Alamieseigha; where is he today? Lucky
Igbinedion; where is he today?
“The youngest was the Speaker, Buhari. You
can still recall what happened to him.”
Obasanjo claimed that the allegation against
Tinubu were not properly investigated, adding
that a former governor of Oyo State bungled
the investigation.
The former president went on: “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? Atiku’s media office in a statement by
Mallam Garba Shehu said: ”Yes, President
Obasanjo is right. He didn’t know Atiku well. It
was later he got to know him as a fighter for
democracy and defender of the constitution.”
“I once went to Tanzania because Julius Nyere
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 rights you should also talk about
human duties and obligations.
“It is sad that after 53 years of independence
we have no leader that we can commend. Then
we are jinxed and cursed; we should all go to
hell. 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.”
On “Leadership in Africa’s Quest for
Sustainable Development”, the former
president said the topic came when humanity
is in search of innovative ways of managing
globally shared challenges.
He listed some of the problems confronting
the country as insecurity and unemployment,
stressing that good leadership can stop them
all.
Obasanjo said: “The Nigerian state is currently
beset with myriad of security, economic,
environmental and social challenges. The issue
of security is the most pervasive, not only in
terms of Boko Haram but also in terms of
armed robbery, kidnapping, corruption, drug
and human trafficking. We can only ignore this
at our own collective peril. Peace and security
require effective and proactive leadership and
people’s support. Without adequate mechanism
to restore peace, the country risks losing more
lives and property and in particular, the goal
of sustainable development will be out of
reach.
“Youths unemployment threatens to further
worsen the problem of crime if adequate care
is not taken. The vulnerability we are all
exposed to because of having millions of
unemployed people can only worsen when the
problem is treated with neglect. The lack of job
opportunities for able and capable citizens will
only make them lose hope in the system and
thereby become frustrated, and make them
desperate and fall into despair, bringing up
many problem for the system as a whole.”
In his brief contribution, the Vice-Chancellor,
UI, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said lamented the
failure of only 36 governors to conduct a
credible election within the Nigerian
Governors Forum (NGF), saying it is a
manifestation of the leadership malaise in the
country.
“We have not raised question about the
scenario where 35 people found it difficult to
conduct a credible election in this country. I
then have concern about how 2015 election
would be,” Adewole said.
A discussant, Prof. Mojeed Alabi, said: “The
task of leadership in Africa has been quite
challenging. Africans have been so
unfortunate. The question is whether our
leaders wanted development or power.”
Another discussant from the Institute of
Sustainability and Peace, United Nations
University, Tokyo, Dr. Obijiofor Aginam, said:
“Unemployment is a bomb that has exploded
and manifested itself in hunger, violent attacks,
crimes and killings.”
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