Obasanjo said this during his speech at the 50th anniversary of the Federal Government College, Kaduna on Saturday, saying appointments made by Buhari’s government have been skewed and lopsided on the basis of nepotism and mediocrity and disregard for merit and competence.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has divided Nigeria along religious, ethnic and other fault lines through lopsided appointments against merit and competence.
Obasanjo said this during his speech at the 50th anniversary of the Federal Government College, Kaduna on Saturday, saying appointments made by Buhari’s government have been skewed and lopsided on the basis of nepotism and mediocrity and disregard for merit and competence.
He said, “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.
“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.”
Obasanjo said Nigerians have not been so divided along religious, ethnic and other fault lines.
“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,” he said.
With less than 30 days to the forthcoming 2023 general elections, he said, “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.”