Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration appoints officials based on partiality rather than skill or merit.
He said this while congratulating the Federal Government College, Kaduna, on its 50th anniversary.
Obasanjo expressed concern about the current situation in Nigeria while speaking on the subject of national unity.
He claimed that the nation’s economic predicament had worsened hardship, created insecurity, and reduced the caliber of leadership.
Obasanjo asserts that politicians deliberately stir up religious conflicts in the nation in order to advance their own self-interest rather than that of the nation as a whole.
“Once again, our nation is dancing on the precipice and some of us are truly worried about the state of affairs today. I expressed that worry in my open letter to Nigerians and Nigerian youths on New Year’s Day,” he said.
“As I stated in the letter; ‘If we fall prey again, we will have ourselves to blame and no one can say how many more knocks Nigeria can take before it tips over. To be forewarned is to be fore-armed.’ Of course, I pray that Nigeria will never tip over. We must constantly work at it and pray.
“My worry is premised on a number of issues. First, I am concerned that the current state of our nation’s economy has widened the gulf of inequality and left many people in despair. Inflation is on the rise; poverty and hardship have returned to many households. The last decade has reversed many of the economic gains that were made in the first decade of the century. There is a general sense of hopelessness across the nation with seemingly uncontrollable insecurity.
“In addition to the economic hardship is political mischief. Never have we been so politically divided along religious, ethnic and other fault lines and deliberately so. Appointments in government are skewed and lopsided on basis of nepotism and mediocrity and disregard of merit and competence.
“Elections are here and may compound the problem. Political parties and politicians have now been emboldened to discard some of the things that were put in place to give all groups a sense of belonging. Exclusion is being taken as normal. Disunity stares us in the face and many of our leaders are more concerned about their selfish interests than the survival and health of our nation.”
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