Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has described Chief Bola Tinubu, as “Baba-go-slow,” criticising his leadership approach and addressing the challenges facing Nigeria under his administration.
Obasanjo made the remarks during his keynote address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum held at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, over the weekend.
Speaking on the theme “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria,” the former president highlighted the deep-seated issues plaguing the nation.
“As the world can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad,” Obasanjo said, citing pervasive corruption, mediocrity, and mismanagement as contributors to the country’s challenges.
He stated, “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria” said, “the more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence, and underdevelopment.”
“Nigeria Situation: As we can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad. The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence, and underdevelopment.
“That’s the situation mostly in Nigeria in the reign of Baba-go-slow and Emilokan. The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see through the consequences of the level of our pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, incompetence and all other forms of iniquity. But yes, there is hope.”
Obasanjo echoed the sentiments of Chinua Achebe’s 1983 publication, The Trouble with Nigeria, where he stated that, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.”
