2023: If we don’t make the right choice things would consume us —Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday warned that if Nigerians fail to make the right choice in electing their leader in the 2023 elections qthe consequence would be disastrous.

Obasanjo said this when he spoke as the special guest of honour at the Wilson Badejo Foundation’s 15th annual lecture with the theme, ‘Overcoming the twin challenges of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria’ held in Lagos, on Wednesday.

According to the former leader, electing the right leaders in 2023 will help the nation to witness progress.

He said, “It is either we make the right choice in 2023 because if we make the right choice, we get there.

“However, if we do not make the right choice in 2023, things would consume us and we pray against that one. We must make the right choice in 2023.”

Earlier in his speech, Obasanjo said that Nigeria was yet to take its rightful position because of poverty and insecurity.

“Nigeria is not where it is supposed to be today. If anyone says it is ok where we are at the moment, then the person’s head needs to be examined.

“My friend, late Ahmed Joda, used to tell me that God has given us everything a nation needs and there’s no need for prayers because if God has given you everything and you squandered it, then something is wrong.

“I told him that even at that, we still need prayers as a nation because what is good needs prayers and on the other side too, we still need more prayers,” he said.

Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof Eghosa Osaghea, who was the guest speaker at the event, said in his lecture that “poverty cannot divide us but it binds us what divides us is corruption. If you see street protests across the world, it is the poor who do it.

“Corruption, by whatever means, is what causes division.

“Many people today dig their boreholes for water, employ private security units, etc, yet, these are things that the state should have put in place.

“It is the duty of the state to provide these for the common good of all.”