Former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, has blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the poor leadership Nigeria has been experiencing in the country.
He said manipulations by Obasanjo while in government led to the poor governance resulting from bad leadership.
According to him, in his days in government, Obasanjo manipulated governors appointed on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy at the beginning of the current democratic dispensation out of the Council of State.
He stressed that Obasanjo “was the beginning of the downward trend of leadership in this country.”
Similarly, Osoba blamed educated Nigerians for the emergence of bad leaders.
According to him, most of them would never go out to cast their votes, thus leaving thugs who would simply sell their votes for some paltry sums to determine the leaders.
Osoba who spoke at the 70th Birthday Colloquium of Nigeria’s best journalist and co-founders of Newswatch Magazine, Ray Ekpu, however expressed hope that Nigeria would improve for the better in the near future.
The theme of the colloquium is “Nigeria: The leadership question.”
The occasion which was chaired by former External Affairs Minister, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, was held at the Muson Centre, Lagos.
In his lecture at the occasion, a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Dr. Chidi Amuta, who was represented by Mr. Dan Agbese, one of the co-founders of Newswatch magazine, called for a ban on the use of affidavit in place of birth certificate for anyone seeking political or public offices.
“Those who cannot remember when they were born or what school they attended and certificates obtained have no business leading anybody,” said Amuta.
He added that there should be training opportunities for those who might want to lead the nation.
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“Leadership requires tutelage; we should resurrect the defunct Centre for Democratic Studies to continuously train and orientate public officials on the rudiments of democratic governance,” he said.
He also called for a ban on the immunity enjoyed by public office holders.
Dignitaries at the occasion included the founder of VanguardNewspaper, Sam Amuka-Pemu; Prof. Pat Utomi; a former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah; a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and presidential hopeful, Kingsley Moghalu, and the Chairman, Editorial Board, The NationNewspaper, Sam Omatseye.
