2023 polls shameful – Obasanjo

…..calls for national reconciliation

Former Nigeria President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has slammed the just-concluded general elections as a “sickening show of shame,” saying that efforts should be made by patriotic Nigerians to not only correct it but prevent reoccurrence.

Speaking in Abuja at the presentation of a book authored by Prof. Tunji Olaopa, the former president said he is too old to keep quiet on national issues, noting that the outcome of the election has made Nigeria more divided than ever before and the country more corroded than what its founding fathers had in mind.

Obasanjo said with the current situation on ground, it would not be out of place for a national reconciliation, which will assuage the feelings of aggrieved Nigerians, particularly, the youth population.

He, therefore, urged the incoming administration to put measures in place that would foster national reconciliation, as “efforts are required to rescue the country from its launch into dystopia and it would only be possible with a common vision.”

The Former President added that governance in Nigeria now required thinking outside the box, to rescue the nation, in terms of its plunging economy and huge national debt burden.

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“Governance in Nigeria now calls for thinking outside the box in terms of development financing. This has become inevitable in the face of Nigeria’s dwindling fortune. In oil revenue, Nigeria’s huge foreign indebtedness and the urgency of diversifying Nigeria’s neo-cultural economy.

“We cannot be spending like a drunken sailor on frivolities and corruption and expect development and growth. Such a situation cannot take us into the Fourth Industrial Revolution already underway…

“My experience and understanding, however, is that the money to develop and grow our economy is out there, if we provide an environment conducive for it to come and stay.”