Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo Monday, in Dutse, Jigawa State, said the current state of insecurity in the country is a result of a long period of bad governance at all levels.
Speaking at a symposium on Security, Governance and Leadership, organised by the Jigawa State Government to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Sule Lamido as governor of the state, the former president said governance and security go hand-in-hand and as such the welfare and well-being of the people rest solely on the government.
Obasanjo said: “The insecurity in Nigeria today is as result of misappropriation and high percentage of national resources that was used for the procurement of military hardware and maintenance of large military forces in the hope of promoting physical security at the expense of quality of living for the citizens”.
He said: "Until recently, the greatest course of anxiety in terms of personal security is violent crime. Today bombing of targets in occupied public buildings or in the open areas where people congregate has become the greatest anxiety of personal security for almost all Nigerians and non-Nigerians living in Nigeria'.
Obasanjo added that, "apart from the fact that it is giving us a bad image, it is also adversely affecting investment prospects in the country".
The former president called for collective efforts to ensure the total security in the country, appealing to people to eschew all forms of violence to ensure peace.
Delivering a lecture, elder statesman and Nigeria's former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, described Lamido as a respectable and decent rascal.
According to him, "I was once referred to as such (rascal) by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo because he had wanted somebody of my character to do a certain job for him".
He said Lamido may have been called all sorts of names, but the application of certain aspects of rascality may have been part of the revolution of transformation of Jigawa State for which no other governor of the state had recorded.
Sule, who earlier said even though he had disagreed with some aspects of Obasanjo's policies, he however said that for any leader to rule Nigeria for eight years and left it intact, such leader deserves commendation.
Sule who spoke elaborately on the topic, Governance, Ethics and Morality, dwelt on the issue of lack of visionary leaders as bane of the country.
He said the leaders of today are merchants of disunity because of their lack of compassion for the common man unlike it used to be during the times of the late Sarduana of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello; Awolowo and Chief Nnamdi Azikwe.
News Source: Thisday
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