Fixing Nigeria needs a leader who is passionate, mad about the nation, says Obasanjo

By our reporter| Nigeria needs a leader who is passionate and mad about the country, former president Obasanjo said on Thursday.

Obasanjo made the comment at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun state when he hosted Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, a former managing director of the now-defunct FSB International Bank who is seeking the presidential ticket of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election.

According to the elder statesman, the situation of Nigeria is “agonising” but noted that no matter how bad the situation of the country is, it can only be made better by Nigerians.

“You are right in saying that wherever you go now, one of the things you hear is that Nigeria is not at the table. Why shouldn’t Nigeria be at the table? What does it cost Nigeria to be at the table? What should it cost Nigeria to be at the table?” he asked.

“I would think four things, one is knowledge. If Nigeria is not at the table, maybe the knowledge we should have of ourselves, our situation, our region, continent, and indeed of the world we live, that knowledge is not adequate. If the knowledge is adequate, we will do what is right when it is right.

“The second is vision. What is the vision that we have? And if you have no vision, you may have eyes, but you are blind. And I believe that is part of our situation.

“The third is passion. I was telling some people this morning that passion means madness , that you are mad about Nigeria. I am and I have no apologies for that, because I have no other country I can call my own. Passion means being mad about Nigeria, having a touch of madness. I look at you and I feel ‘yes, you are mad’.

“The fourth is innovation. You cannot be doing same thing we have done in the past that has not paid us and expect any change. We have to innovate. We have to re-strategise.”