Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has said Nigeria was in danger of becoming a failed state due to the incompetence of the incumbent President  Muhammmadu Buhari administration. He said Nigeria has reached the tipping point thanks to a myriad of sociol, economic and political problems which the administration has been unable to address.

Obasanjo’s views were contained in a speech he deliverered on Thursday at a consultative forum conveyed by various socio-cultural regional groups including Afenifere, Northern Elders Forum, Pan Niger Delta Forum, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and the Middle Belt Forum.

One of the submissions made by Obasanjo which seemed to enjoy the concurrence of virtually everybody at the gathering was that the Nigerian nation has never been as divided in recent times along ethnic, religious and other lines as it is today. He attributed this to what he claimed to be the mismanagement of the country in recent times.

His words: “I do appreciate that you all feel sad and embarrassed as most of us feel as Nigerians with the situation we find ourselves in. Today Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state. Economically our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country.

” And these manifestations are the products of recent mismanagement of our diversity and socio-economic development of our country. Old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses being heard loud and clear almost
everyday.”

Obasanjo suggested that  Nigeria now needs to address the problem of disunity among its people if it hopes to successfully solve all the problems now confronting it. A house divided, he noted, cannot achieve much success.

Still stressing the need for unity, he urged all those clamouring for the break up of Nigeria to understand that if the country was to be broken into several parts as separate countries, these independent states would still be neighbours who would still need the cooperation of one another.

The former president had words of praise for the thoughtfulness of the socio-cultural groups in coming together to to host the dialogue particularly at this time. He said:

“With what I have seen, read and heard from the rapproachement that you are forging together, Isee a ray of hope that Nigeria can be saved from disintegration.

“If we are ready to live together in understanding, mutual respect and love with equity, justice, inclusiveness while engendering sense of belonging and unity of purpose and all hands on deck, we can deal with internal issues of terrorism, organised crimes, banditry, kidnapping ,human trafficking, drug, money laundering and corruption. We will then be able able to deal successfully with any incoming attack of terrorism, organised crimes, etc, from the outside.”

Chief Obasanjo was unequivocal in condemning the ongoing constitutional review efforts by the National Assembly as a mere waste of time and national resources. He argued that successive constitutional review efforts have been money-gulping exercises embarked upon by successive National Assemblies  since 1999 which have yielded little results.

He submitted: ” I believe one of our greatest problems in the past was that we did not dialogue enough. We talk at ourselves and selfishly keep old prejudices and biases. If we show understanding, give- and- take, love of one another and commitment and love of our country, we will do what is right and stand firmly together for the good of all.”

Nigeria, according to Obasanjo, was worth saving and he said only those who  take pleasure in deceiving themselves would say that all was well with the country.

“I believe Nigeria is worth saving on the basis of mutuality and reciprocity and I also believe it can be done through the process of dialogues rather than talking at each other or resorting to violence. It will amount to dangerous and destructive self-delusion for anybody to claim that all is well in Nigeria today.”

“Some people are obsessed with 2023. I believe that with death, destruction, debt, disease, deceit, disbelief, disenchantment, doubt,and suspicion around,we need to see our way through to 2023 and beyond in some form of unity of purpose, reasonable security, shared values, true democratic practice, inclusiveness and shared society. That is why we are here. No constitution is even permanent; it is dynamic with time and experience.”