Lamido To Obasanjo: You’re A Statesman, Don’t Become A Bigot Because Of Buhari

Alhaji Sule Lamido, a f ormer Jigawa State governor has urged former President Olusegun Obasanjo to maintain his status as a statesman after ruling the country for eight years instead of making utterances just because of seemingly disappointment with present day government.

Lamido spoke in reaction to Obasanjo’s scathing remarks on insecurity challenges in the country where he said both Boko Haram and herdsmen acts of violence were not treated as they should at the beginning.

Obasanjo who spoke at the 2nd session of the Synod held at the Cathedral Church of St.Paul’s Anglican Church, Oleh in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State had said if Nigeria must come out of the marauding activities of Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram, the government must be prepared to take drastic steps not minding whose ox is gored.

Speaking on the topic, “Mobilizing Nigeria’s human & natural resources for national development and stability”, Obasanjo said, “They have both incubated and developed beyond what Nigeria can handle alone. They are now combined and internationalized with ISIS in control.

“It is no longer an issue of lack of education and lack of employment for our youths in Nigeria which it began as, it is now West African fulanization, African Islamization and global organized crimes of human trafficking, money laundering, drug trafficking, gun trafficking, illegal mining and regime change.

“Yet, we could have dealt with both earlier, and nip them in the bud, but Boko Haram boys were seen as rascals not requiring serious attention in administering holistic measures of stick and carrot.

“And when we woke up to the reality, it was turned to industry for all and sundry to supply materials and equipment that were already outdated and that were not fit for active military purpose.

“Soldiers were poorly trained for the unusual mission, poorly equipped, poorly motivated, poorly led and made to engage in propaganda rather than achieving results”, the former president was quoted to have said.

But Lamido, in a statement signed by his aide on new media, Mansur Ahmed, noted that such remarks coming from the former president was “very much unlike you sir!”

According to him, if the remarks by Obasanjo were made at a non-religious gathering to a non-religious audience, it would have been tolerable.

He said the various diversities that hitherto held the country together which in turn helped national cohesion were already turning into huge “gorges” and pleaded with the former president to remain a statesman that he has always been.

The former Jigawa governor, who also served as Obasanjo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, from 1999 to 2003, further said “as leaders, like I have been saying, we should never act in anger because if we do, it can hurt. I therefore call on our boss, Obasanjo, not to let his disappointment with the sitting president turn him into a bigot. He must not abandon the national stage.”