As Nigeria celebrates its 50th independence anniversary tomorrow, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has blamed the nation’s underdevelopment on the regional politics played by such leaders of the first republic as Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello. He said if they had made proper efforts at nation building, the country would not have been where it is today.

Mr Obasanjo who was the guest lecturer at the second convocation lecture of the Redeemer’s University, titled, “Nigeria@50 What celebrations?”, blamed the three key leaders of the nation’s regions in the first republic for our inability to get it right so far. “For a newly independent country, our weak political fabric, diverse and highly differentiated socio-cultural milieu, required a leadership with effective national mobilising capacity, ability to weave together the different ethnic groups, inspire them and provide a broad-minded leadership.

“Unfortunately, Nigeria did not enjoy such leadership at independence and that leadership deficit and weakness of structure militated against Nigeria on independence.”

He painted the picture of how a more nationalistic group would have improved the nation’s fortunes as he compared Nigeria with nations such as South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia which all had their independence at about the same time with Nigeria but have so far done quite well in comparison.

Mr Obasanjo did not leave out the military in his retrospective, stating that the “most retrogressive era for Nigeria was from 1983 to 1999” when different military leaders steered the nation’s ship recklessly. He alleged that the military leaders did not, during this period, invest a penny in the critical power sector.

He however said that the nation, with all its woes, has every reason to celebrate and he does not share in the rampant pessimism, “The nation has survived a number of challenges and can only move ahead for the better” he said. He also noted that what we are celebrating now is the 50th independence anniversary of the nation and not its existence. The former president traced the origin of the country to 1914 when the name Nigeria was coined during the amalgamation of the North and South protectorate.

Zoning vs federal character

Reacting to a question from a member of the audience who asked whether regional politics has not caused today’s clamour for zoning, the former president said, “zoning is unconstitutional, it is not part of our constitution. What is in the constitution is the federal character which preaches that if there are 30 spaces in an office 10 must go to Yoruba, 10 must go to the Hausa, 10 to the Igbo’s and so on. This is what all the political parties must have in their constitution as well.”

He adds that zoning will compromise competence and merit which are crucial in evaluating the right people for political office. Further ridiculing the zoning concept, the former president said that, “if I as a Yoruba man, died during my tenure, will they have said the next president must be from the Southwest or Ogun state” he asked? “In the heart of hearts of those who are talking about zoning, I know they don’t mean it because they know it is not in the interest of our country” Mr Obasanjo said.

Urging the students to ignore the old style of politics, he said that “Zoning is a vestige of the past and it will still go away, you young generations must do away with the vestiges of your fathers and grandfathers that have done Nigeria no good.” He also called on the young ones to speak out against bad governance as it is the only way to fight the menace. On the issue of high cost of governance in the country, Mr Obasanjo said that “the cost of government is high because those that are in government are incompetent,” blaming the people rather than the system.

He said the late former head of state, Muritala Muhammed was killed because he refused to stay in Dodan barracks because “the house was over-furnished.” Speaking on the excessive salaries paid to members of the National Assembly, the former president alleged that “the cost of maintaining the national assembly has increased more than 10 times today from what it was in 2000” whilst “nothing has changed” he noted.

“It is just the greed, corruption and insensitivity of these people who call themselves legislators.”

Vociferous Obasanjo

He called for vociferous protest against such expenditure saying that it the only way we (Nigerians) can fight it as “we can’t do away with them. They amend the constitution and will not do away with themselves. That is why I am raising my voice and your generation must take it up” he told the students. Painting himself as some sort of radical, Mr Obasnajo urged the audience to recall “when the late President (Umaru Yar’Adua) travelled out of the country and leaving the nation to drift astray, I spoke out when the entire nation kept quiet.” Mr Obasanjo challenged the students not to blame his generation anymore as “my generation has fought for the stability of this country and the entrenchment of democracy. You have to raise your voice now. If you are not prepared to be a patriot in your teens and 20’s, then you will be a disappointment to this country in your 40’s” he concluded to rousing ovation from the youthful audience.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5624764-146/obasanjo_blames_nations_woes_on_regional.csp

I just like the man for he comes out to say the fact when the fact is needed.

Another son of a camel. oloriburuku aburo olosi. Sanpona punish you OBJ

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wales:

I just like the man for he comes out to say the fact when the fact is needed.

lol, the wily old fox took you in with his usual display of fake piety.

Though I admire a lot about OBJ & his unique brand of Nigerian politics, fact remains[b] he's one of the biggest hypocrites that ever walked on Nigerian soil. If you paid closer attention to the things he says, you would find out it's the exact opposite of what he does in real life.[/b]

", Mr Obasanjo did not leave out the military in his retrospective, stating that the “most retrogressive era for Nigeria was from 1983 to 1999” when different military leaders steered the nation’s ship recklessly. He alleged that the military leaders did not, during this period, invest a penny in the critical power sector.

See this stupid tin, he removed prior to his first massacre around 1979 and after the biggest onslaught of his 'transfer of power' in 1999. BIG MOUTH MONKEY, your day of live judgement is nearer.

ziddy:

lol, the wily old fox took you in with his usual display of fake piety.

Though I admire [/b]a lot about OBJ & his unique brand of Nigerian politics, fact remains[b] he's one of the biggest hypocrites that ever walked on Nigerian soil. [b]If you paid closer attention to the things he says, you would find out it's the exact opposite of what he does in real life.[/b]

.
Then why would you admire someone that will not do wateva he says. if he tells u that u r save, that means death! has he just did in the above speech

old and disgusting fool

OBJ should become a teacher now we know there is no zoning in PDP as he has said now

Sorry to say so but I'm afraid he'd right on this one. The part I don't seem to understand is why he should not be lecturing from some deep dungeon because with the exception of the Tafawozik powder keg, OBJ was the main attraction in most episodes of this sordid drama and the side kick in a couple of others. He fought in 1967 without understanding he will lecture against it in 2010, became sole administrator in 1979 institutionalising corruption, conducted one of the first flawed elections (and actually earned a doctorate in election fraud) way back then and rose like the Phoenix from the ashes in 1999 to impose senators and legislators and lighting the fuse of grand salaries and fringe benefits such as the third term revenue allocation. He surely has our number. Nigeria's postcode should be changed to OBJ. No single Nigerian living or dead has had more opportunities to right this country and yet he is telling us it is up to us to clean his mess.

Nigeria was running a confederation, those leaders mentioned should be more concerned about their regions than the nation, they were elected by their people to represent the interest of their regions. Obasanjo is an unserious element, Awolowo spent 8 years as a premier, we could see his effect, what has Obasanjo achieved as the President of Nigeria, Obasanjo is not fit to clean the shoes of those men he mentioned.

hercules07:

Nigeria was running a confederation, those leaders mentioned should be more concerned about their regions than the nation, they were elected by their people to represent the interest of their regions. Obasanjo is an unserious element, Awolowo spent 8 years as a premier, we could see his effect, what has Obasanjo achieved as the President of Nigeria, Obasanjo is not fit to clean the shoes of those men he mentioned.

I could not have said that any better, even at that OBJ raised some cool points when he touched on the take-home-pay of our so-called legislators.

yeswecan:

I could not have said that any better, even at that OBJ raised some cool points when he touched on the take-home-pay of our so-called legislators.

He had the opportunity to do something and he did not do it, he has lost the right to comment on national matters, he is not morally upright to castigate others when he has been a contributory factor. How can a whole RCCG invite such a person to an important occasion? Obasanjo out of all the leaders we have had had the best opportunity to do what is right for the nation.

aha [img]http://2.s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=ffffff/txt=ffffff/border=ffffff/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]
[img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=ffffff/txt=ffffff/border=ffffff/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

lol, the wily old fox took you in with his usual display of fake piety.

Though I admire a lot about OBJ & his unique brand of Nigerian politics, fact remains he's one of the biggest hypocrites that ever walked on Nigerian soil. If you paid closer attention to the things he says, you would find out it's the exact opposite of what he does in real life.

OBJ is a great hypocrite.

hercules07:

He had the opportunity to do something and he did not do it, he has lost the right to comment on national matters, he is not morally upright to castigate others when he has been a contributory factor. How can a whole RCCG invite such a person to an important occasion? Obasanjo out of all the leaders we have had had the best opportunity to do what is right for the nation.

And what is RCCG again? Another church i suppose. Look these guys are out of touch, i do not mean to be blasphemous or anything but the leaders of theses churches are individual just like you and i, they are rich so they possibly do not understand whats happening in Nigeria. God could be using someone, that doesn’t mean he is perfect.  I say that to say this;  it is time for us to think for our selves. . OBJ is friend to both RCCG -as you’ve called them- and winners chapel.

pls leave the man alone
is our man. the only ebora-owu.

As Nigeria celebrates its 50th independence anniversary tomorrow, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has blamed the nation’s underdevelopment on the regional politics played by such leaders of the first republic as Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello. He said if they had made proper efforts at nation building, the country would not have been where it is today.

Why cant someone tell this man to shut up. What kinda students was he addressing, becoz during our time as a students i will ask the old man to shut up his mouth. We can take his inability to move the country forward when he had the opportunity, but blaming his 8years of failure on these great men who gave us the independent his is proud to celebrate today is what we can not tolerate from him.

I believe if OBJ was among the founding fathers we would have remained under slavery till today in the hands the west. If this same man can give out Nigerian portion of land(bakassi) jst to remain in the good book of the west, i wonder how he would have fought for our independence.

OBJ had a good 8years opportunity to change the nation as a Nigeria leader, yet he failed to. How many of these 3 men he mentioned had the opportunity to lead Nigeria for an uninterrupted 8years as he did?

He should jst shut up abeg.

Obj hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This man is an irredeemable slowpoke. The three leaders Obasanjo castigated in his unfortunate speech for the socio-politico-economic woes of Nigeria were shoulder and head better than him as nation builders. The three men were involved in a democratic federalism and were responsible to their regions. However, the same fool called Obasanjo supported Gowon to merge Nigeria into centralized government made up of states with much constituted authority at the center. This dude has no moral ground to criticize any Nigerian leader without berating himself.

OBJ, the shameless man who was "sleeping" with his son's wife? In a country with more men of honour, moral and integrity, persons like OBJ will not even have the gut to address a gathering let alone insulting a nation's psychology. You can not stand the truth on its head. STUPID man.

yeswecan:

I could not have said that any better, even at that OBJ raised some cool points when he touched on the take-home-pay of our so-called legislators.

Obj grouse with the politcians pay started after they scuttled his 3rd term ambition
It is a fact that those guys pay is obscene
But Obj would have been happy with it and would have doubled it of they would have given him a 3rd termin office

princekevo:


Why cant someone tell this man to shut up. What kinda students was he addressing, becoz during our time as a students i will ask the old man to shut up his mouth. We can take his inability to move the country forward when he had the opportunity, but blaming his 8years of failure on these great men who gave us the independent his is proud to celebrate today is what we can not tolerate from him.

I believe if OBJ was among the founding fathers we would have remained under slavery till today in the hands the west. If this same man can give out Nigerian portion of land(bakassi) jst to remain in the good book of the west, i wonder how he would have fought for our independence.

OBJ had a good 8years opportunity to change the nation as a Nigeria leader, yet he failed to. How many of these 3 men he mentioned had the opportunity to lead Nigeria for an uninterrupted 8years as he did?

He should jst shut up abeg.

Somebody once said that Obj is an agent of a foreign country - that makes sense
The third of a novel prize for peace clogged his brain while giving away Bakassi
I am not from Bakassi - but I agonise over that matter
When was the last time that any country people by sane people give out their land in peace time

There is no patriotic blood in that man's vein
He always want to be in the good books of foreign countries (would leader, international statesman etc)

Do we really believe if he were from Bakaassi he would have given it away
Or would he give away Ota if Benin Republic lays claim to him

I remember the despot threatening to walk out a state governor from an event organised to discuss Niger Delta issues

So regional/national looting was not one of the factors?

Engr dan:

pls leave the man alone
is our man. the only ebora-owu.

The same crook who upon being released from prison said that he had become "born again"

jomonic:

lol, the wily old fox took you in with his usual display of fake piety.

Though I admire a lot about OBJ & his unique brand of Nigerian politics, fact remains he's one of the biggest hypocrites that ever walked on Nigerian soil. If you paid closer attention to the things he says, you would find out it's the exact opposite of what he does in real life.

OBJ is a great hypocrite.

You are spot on

While secretly buying Transcorp shares, he was accussing Atiku of buying AP through a front and voided the privatisation
When Gowon wanted to participate in the transition programme under IBB, Obj asked him what he forgot at the state house
Yet in 1999 Obj went back to the state house and wanted to die there
Obj sent soldiers to Odi and Zaki Biam because the conduct of the people there undermined national security
Yet he instigated rioting and arson in Anambra state to pave way for declaration of a state of emergency
He witheld Lagos state's fund because the creation of additional LGs by Tinubu was "unconstitutional"
Yet he wanted a constitutionally elected governor to submit to the authority of a thug (Adedibu)
He shouted and ranted about fighting corruption - set up EFCC, hounded governors he did not like
Yet he shielded Bode George from prosecution, continued to support Adedibu after the Ibadan crook said he was entitled to 50% of his state's security vote; his friend/lawyer, Afe Babalola, was given a contract to incorporate Galaxy Backbone. That exercise cost us N250m

When Yaradua took ill and went to KSA for the last time, Obj's opinion was sought. He did not say anything, 2 weeks later he started talking about resigning if you are not fit etc All along, the press had been talking along with others

Now somebody who did not commit himself until he was sure that Yaradua could no longer deal with him is now saying the entire nation kept quiet until he spoke up
Indeed, Obj always takes credit for good things and apportion blames for errors to others

We can go on

OBJ, IBB, They belong to the same class of the past that we must destroy, they all milked us dry.

I blame some of Nigeria's woes on OBJ.

MaziUche0:

I blame some of Nigeria's woes on OBJ.

nah,you got it wrong.I blame our problems on nigerians,myself included.
when OBJ went to RCCG and spoke such vile,some people were probablyy there clapping(i mean poor people) and these are the same people that will go home hungry while a man who just spoke vile and desecreated the names of some of the greatest men we ever had goes home in a bullet proof car(the monkey)
As long as these fools who became thieves and think they are becoming gods keep walking artoubd scot free in our society,we should all shut up and take the insults with diginity

milehigh06:

As long as these fools who became thieves and think they are becoming gods keep walking artoubd scot free in our society,we should all shut up and take the insults with diginity

so, what are u insunuating    kidnapping, suicidal mission, ignoramus him or ?

alanbolo:

so, what are u insunuating kidnapping, suicidal mission, ignoramus him or ?

maybe about time we hav a revolution me think

Zik didnt play "regional politics" on the same level the other two men did. Had he done so, then of course, there would not be Nigeria as we know it today. OBJ should know that talk is cheap. What was he doing in Owerri in 1970? Fighting to keep an entire region from leaving a then failed state, so that he and his colleagues (IBB and co) could rule and rule and rule.

Those men- Zik, Pa Awo, and Bello, who did crazy things to be fair, did FAR more for their peoples interest, unlike the current governors and senators who are lining up their pocket with millions of NAIRA