By Fikayo Olowolagba (daily post.ng).
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has listed some politicians who he described as younger generation of leaders that have failed Nigerians.
He listed Atiku Abubakar, former Governors Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Deprieye Alamieseigha, Lucky Igbinedion of Lagos, Bayelsa and Edo states respectively, as well as former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari.
Obasanjo said this at the 4th Annual Ibadan Sustainable Development Summit organised by the Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Ibadan, in collaboration with African Sustainable Development Network, Ibadan on Tuesday.
While responding to issues of poor leadership in Africa, he condemned the younger generation of leaders, saying they had poor performance record in terms of integrity and probity.
He stressed that after 53 years of independence, Nigeria had no leader that can be recommended.
“During my administration as President, we had some people who were under 50 years in leadership positions. 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.
“You said Bola Tinubu is your master; what (Salisu) Buhari did was not anything worse than what Bola Tinubu did. We got Buhari 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 of Oyo State then 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 $750 million. Through our lawyer in Switzerland we recovered $1.25 billion and the lawyer still said there is probably still another $1 billion 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.
“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,” Obasanjo said