He spoke at the birthday celebration organised in his honour by the Centre for Human Security, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, that he could not close his eyes against issues that are affecting the nation.
Obasanjo said that the nation was still grappling to live by what it is known for,as the giant of Africa, saying that the country is being confronted with the problem of leadership and that until this problem is resolved, the nation would not attain the status.
“I am an incurable optimist about this country, maybe because I have seen a little bit in my short span of life, a little bit of what is possible and a little bit of what can go wrong and what can be made to go wrong,maybe that is why I’m an incurable optimist and I believe that all will be well in this country, we have no choice anyway, all has to be well,” he said.
On the issue of security, the former president said that some West African countries are worried about the activities of the Boko Haram, contending that it would be disastrous should Nigerian government fail to address it with all seriousness.
He insisted that if the issue of insecurity, unemployment, poverty, confronting the nation were not addressed, the problem of terrorism would remain with us.
The former president said, “You can suppress, but if other things there are supposed to be there are not there, you will only suppress, sooner than later it will rear it’s ugly head again and what should be done is to remove the root, stem and branches and I believe that can be done.”
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has congratulated Obasanjo on his 78th birthday, saying, “Let us pay tribute to a nationalist, a teacher, disciplinarian, tutor in dignity and boldness. In politics, it’s true that there is no permanent friend or permanent enemy, what is common is common interest.”
How do you celebrate man who had kept you on your toes? I am grateful to him because he kept me on my toes. I took his government to court severally. He has a passion for perfection. Not just not an emotional being. He told APC if you put a good team together I will support the team for the sake of Nigeria. Obasanjo is an open book. You read a paragraph .You read a page. You learn and comply. APC will cure Nigeria.’s Elephantiasis. Patriotism is puting the county first before self. He would have gotten anything he wanted from Goodluck Jonathan. But he put that aside For the unity and progress of Nigeria. Freed himself from partisanship. He freed himself to help a drifting Nigeria chart a new course. Happy birthday chief olusegun Obasanjo”.
“We are about 180million now, our brothers and sisters in West Africa are worried, and when they talked to me and I asked them why they were worried about the security situation of my country,they will say that if half a million Nigerians go to Republic of Benin, we will overwhelm them,the same situation will happen if we go to Ghana.
“Even Britain is worried,they are worried. They said their problem is that if one million Nigerians go to Britain, they said in 10 years, there will be 10 million Nigerians in Britain and they will rather keep us there.
“My concern is that we have too many think-tank, let us have more of do-tanks. I believe that we can and we have no reason not to do better as a nation.”
He described leadership to be central to Nigeria’s socio-economic and political challenges and expressed view that unless the leadership problem was resolved, the nation would continue to move about in circles.
“Once we do not get the issue of leadership right, we cannot get anything right. Our economic, security and social challenges all boil down to leadership problem and I mean leadership at all levels,” he added.
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