2019: ‘Nigeria deserves better than we have now’— Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has taken another dig at President Muhammadu Buhari, stating that Nigeria deserved better than the leadership he was offering.

Obasanjo spoke when former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, visited him to solicit his support for his 2019 presidential bid.

The aspirant, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led a delegation of his campaign team on Sunday to Obasanjo at his residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

He explained that the visit was to seek his “prayers, advice and support.”
He described Obasanjo as his leader and mentor, and attributed his success as Sokoto State Governor between 1999 and 2007 majorly to the advice from the former president.

Bafarawa referenced Obasanjo’s advice on savings, saying it made him leave about N11.8 billion in Sokoto State treasury when he left office in 2007.

Bafarawa also recalled that Obasanjo visited Sokoto State 14 times to commission various projects, adding that he replicated the former president’s an all-inclusive government model in his state.

He also praised Obasanjo for his interventions at critical stages of the nation’s history, noting that many Nigerians had misunderstood the intentions of the elder statesman. He commended the former president particularly for laying the foundation for the fight against corruption.

“Nobody can successfully lay claim to fighting corruption without recourse to what Obasanjo had done,” Bafarawa said.

In his response, Obasanjo noted that, “Nigeria can be better than what it is now”, pledging his support for any effort to achieve this.

“My own strong belief is that Nigeria deserves better than we have now and we can get better than what we have. I believe the task of moving Nigeria to an enviable height is a collective responsibility and if we fail to act together as we ought to, the nation will not be where it is supposed to be in 2019”, Obasanjo said.

Read also: No arm of government must be a clog in the wheel of progress —Ambode

He recalled his role during Nigeria’s civil war between 1966 and 1970 as well as his travails in prison, saying, “I have made sacrifices for Nigeria and will continue to do so.”

He called for new strategies to fix Nigeria, saying “we have continued to tread on the old path.”

Obasanjo called for more attention to the welfare of the poor, and increased educational development, particularly in the North-East.

He admonished Bafarawa to continue to groom the leadership qualities he identified in him, including humility, diligence, selflessness and lack of discrimination, and also prayed for God’s guidance and support for Bafarawa’s presidential ambition.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now