Ex-Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo, posits that only a raving lunatic can fix the numerous challenges in Africa’s most populous nation, and set the country on the path towards greatness.
Nigeria heads into another election season on the cusp of disintegration amid escalating ethnic tensions, in need of a steely pair of hands to fix widespread insecurity and poverty, as inflation continues to spiral out of control and the local currency weakens beyond repair.
“I will say four things, of which I was reminded this morning. One is knowledge. If Nigeria is not at the table, maybe the knowledge that we should have of ourselves, of our situation, of our continent and indeed of the world is not that adequate.
“If that knowledge is adequate, we will do what is right, when it is right and how it is right,” Obasanjo said when he received yet another presidential aspirant, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen (PDP), at his Abeokuta residence on Thursday, May 19, 2022.
The former president added that; “Yes, we have a record which some people may find a little bit not what they want to hear, but whatever people want to hear, I believe like you (Hayatu-Deen) have rightly said, that this period is not like any other period in the history of Nigeria and you used two words: decomposing and dissolving.
“I can’t find any better words to describe the situation we have found ourselves.
“It is an agonising situation for you obviously and also for me. I want to emphasize the point that the Nigerian situation, bad as it is, will only be put right by Nigerians at the forefront of our situation. So, Nigerians have to brace themselves up to do what needs to be done to put Nigeria back on the right path.
“And when you said that you are involved in this, with a passion and I was telling some people this morning that passion means madness.
“That you are mad about Nigeria, I am and I have no apologies for that because I have no other country I can call my own and I have no other country I can go to and say yes, I have come to live here.
“Passion means being mad about Nigeria, having a touch of madness. And I look at you (Hayatu-Deen) and say yes, you are mad about Nigeria too.”
Obasanjo, 85, was Nigeria’s civilian President from 1999 to 2007. He previously ruled Nigeria as a soldier from 1976 to 1979.
Obasanjo famously ripped his PDP membership card to shreds in 2015. His pastime as a retired politician includes writing stinging, critical letters to sitting presidents and playing commemorative soccer matches.
