Veteran journalist and former presidential aide Laolu Akande has cautioned against the persistent focus on removing incumbents as the sole solution to Nigeria’s challenges.
He made this known on Friday while speaking on the “My Take” segment of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels TV.
The former American College professor was responding to the controversies stirred by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent remarks in the United States where described Nigeria as a glaringly failed state while referring to the immediate past president as “Baba Go Slow,” & the current President Bola Tinubu as “Emilokan,” in apparent jest during a lecture recently in the US.
While acknowledging the validity of some of Obasanjo’s observations, Akande argued that the former president’s approach risks perpetuating a cycle of political blame games used only to change an administration without addressing Nigeria’s fundamental problems.
“President Obasanjo actually depicted some of the real issues that the country is going through. But our point is this: We don’t want a situation where people like the respected President Obasanjo, who was president three times, will weaponize the problems of the country in order to remove a current president and put in another without us addressing the fundamental problems of the country,” Akande said.
According to him, Nigeria’s challenges extend beyond political leadership and reflect deeper societal issues. He argued that repeatedly replacing presidents without tackling the root causes of governance inefficiencies is counterproductive as the country’s recent political history has shown.
“The problem that we have today in Nigeria, as we have seen, is not just a political leadership problem. It is much deeper,” Akande emphasized.
He pointed to the political culture and the character of leaders as symptoms of a more systemic issue.
“The political leadership that we have came out of what we have become as a people,” an apparent reference to the general moral decline in the society at large.
According to him “without us addressing that, we will just be playing in a cycle of bringing the same kind of political characters that cannot transform our country.”
Akande further highlighted a historical example, recalling the 2015 coalition of politicians that ousted the PDP and ushered in a new era of governance promising significant change.
But he quipped: “Guess what? Ten years after, we are still expecting the promise, “noting the persistence of unfulfilled expectations.
Akande urged Obasanjo, given his extensive tenure and influence, to shift his focus from partisan and purely politically-targeted criticisms to fostering a national consensus for real societal and structural reform.
“People like Obasanjo ought to be more interested in the deeper problems of the country,” Akande said.
He called for a transformation-oriented approach involving non-partisan collaboration among Nigeria’s elites, especially former leaders like Obasanjo. “We need him and people like him in and outside of the political terrain to come together in a concerted effort that is not partisan, that is not just targeted at attacking the current leaders, but something that can transform the society,” Akande asserted.
While acknowledging Obasanjo’s stature as a statesman, Akande did not shy away from holding him partly accountable for Nigeria’s current woes.
“Someone like Obasanjo, who served three terms from 1976-79, 1999-2003, and 2003-2007, is fairly part of the problem,” he argued.
He urged Obasanjo to acknowledge his contributions to systemic problems such as corruption and the erosion of the rule of law.
“President Obasanjo cannot say he is not partially responsible for corruption in our country. Hcan notot say he is not partially responsible for how the rule of law has been violated in our country. There are few problems in the country that President Obasanjo’s hands cannot be traced to.”
Akande concluded by emphasizing the importance of constructive engagement from the elder statesmen and people in his category.
“In order for him to present a credible front, he cannot continue to pontificate. He can come to own up to his own errors.” He said once he does that, Nigerians can then invest a trust in the honesty of his motivation and purposes.
