By Williams Amofokhai
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday said Nigerians will weep for their nation over the level of emptiness of their leaders.
Obasanjo spoke in his keynote address presented via video recording at the launch of the book “RECLAIMING THE JEWEL OF AFRICA” written by former minister, Olusegun Aganga in Abuja.
He lamented that most of the leaders in positions lacked the knowledge and understanding of the position craving for.
“You will weep for your nation over their level of emptiness as far as development issues are concerned,” Obasanjo stated.
Obasanjo also said that total dismantling of the country in the name of reforms would be retrogressive and destructive.
He urged the new leaders of the country to unlock and remove the impediment to Nigeria’s attainment of “its divine stature and status and being kept a Lilliputian.”
On the call for reforms, Obasanjo in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi noted that, “Reforms yes, total dismantling is destructive and retrogressive.
He observed that in the book, “adequate emphasis is not placed on leadership as the crucial and critical defining and decisive factor in determining the shape, form, direction, speed, content and trajectory of development for any human organisation and especially for a nation like Nigeria.
To him, “Leadership is the key to unlock and remove the impediment to Nigeria’s attainment of its divine stature and status and being kept a Lilliputian.
“With leadership issue resolved in terms of character, attributes, value, virtue, orientation, performance and love of humanity with love and fear of God, all other things will be given in terms of achievement and Nigeria will become a Giant in the Sun. We then move from potentiality to actuality.”
He stated that most of the country’s leaders, “If you ask why they want to be in the position they are craving for, you will weep for your nation over their level of emptiness as far as development issues are concerned.
“What do they understand for peace, security, stability, predictability, development, growth and progress to be actualised? I believe that peace, security, democracy and prosperity must be taken together,” he stated.
