OBJ Says Jonathan’s Govt A Disaster

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday, described Goodluck Jonathan, immediate past president as a disaster.

This came days after he insisted that he had no regret choosing the peer of late President Umar Yar’Adua and his running mate- Goodluck Jonathan, over other candidates itching to succeed him in 2003.

Obasanjo, who said he rejected the other aspirants from his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), because of their records on corruption, declared that former President Jonathan’s actions and inactions would continue to impact negatively on the aspiration of people from his South-South geo-political zone for several years to come.

Speaking during a question and answer session after delivering the 11th Convocation Lecture of Benson Idahosa University in Benin City, Edo State, Obasanjo recalled the Yoruba saying that “you can only help somebody to get a job, but you cannot help him do the job.”

The ex President who spoke on: “Effective Education a Panacea for Societal Development and Transformation,” however, further justified his choice, noting that there is hardly anybody who got into a position without being helped by one or more persons.

“To become Nigeria’s Head of State, it was first of all my performance in the war front. Now if General Yakubu Gowon has not sent me to the war front during the civil war you won’t know whether I can perform or not.

“Now he sent me to the war front, I thank him for it and because I performed, we shared the credit, if I had failed, Gowon would not have shared the credit, he would not have shared the condemnation with me, I will be alone.

“Yes as I have said, I believe that opportunity that afforded itself in 2010 for somebody from the minority to on his own steam become the President of Nigeria, he (Jonathan) should never have lost the opportunity but what he did with it is entirely to him and don’t take that lightly, what he did or did not do with it will reflect for a long time on that part of the country. But nobody will be there who will not be helped but you voted for him, I was not the only one of 18 million voters who voted for him” he stressed.

On the lecture proper, the former president said the war on Boko Haram can only be won with proper education and enlightenment of the citizenry especially people from the region who are heavily impacted.

He pointed out that education as a moral enterprise was needed to re-engage, the issue of Boko Haram.

According to Obasanjo “President Buhari should tackle insurgency from the angle of morale education. If we are able to tackle Boko Haram with education in our schools, both in the social media that they use, we will dilute their messages and positively win their hearts and  others who have been swayed by the jihadists messages”.