Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has dissected Nigeria’s current situation, maintaining that current happening, including kidnappings, killings, insecurity among others have rendered the country as land of bitterness and sadness.
He added that it was saddening that the country that should top every positive index globally has been grappling with issues of insecurity, battered economy, unrests, and continuous agitation from separatists group seeking secession.
The former president said that with the present situation, it was important for Nigerians, including elected leaders and other relevant stakeholders to rise up, and proffers need solution in salvaging the country from claws of insecurity.
Speaking on Thursday while receiving a book titled, ‘The Man, The General, and The President,’ authored by Femmy Carrena, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, Obasanjo, who is also a retired General in the Nigeria Army, attributed the challenges bedevlling the country to bad leadership.
According to him, my prayer is that all of us will have something to contribute to making this country what God has created it to be – a land flowing with milk and honey
“Right now, it is a land flowing with bitterness and sadness, that is not what God wants this country to be. We must change the narrative, we must talk to ourselves in the civilised language.
“There is nowhere you go in this country that you will not see geniuses in any section of the country. So, why should we look down on ourselves? Off course, we will get this country to what God has created it to be, because where we are now is not what God has created Nigeria to be.”
According to him, education must be one of the main pillars of getting Nigeria to where it should be and the over 14 million Nigerian children that are now out of school, we must a find a way of getting them into school.
“Otherwise, we are preparing the Boko Haran of tomorrow and there is nothing that will prevent that. If we don’t do it now, then, we lose the opportunity and the consequences in the future will be. Some of us might have gone, but those who will be around will bear the brunt of the problem”.
“My own belief is that God had created races in the world and at one time or the other, he has decided that every race will be led by a particular nation in the world. As at today, the white race is being led by American; I don’t know how long that will be. Yellow race is being led by the China and whatever we say or do, China will lead the world before the middle of this century and there is nothing we can do about it”.
“I believe that God has created Nigeria to lead the black race. That we are not doing is not because God has not given us all that we need to do it. It is because we have failed in leadership to do it and that have to be corrected. That is the fault of all of us”.
