OBJ responsible for Nigeria’s economic woes – Ladoja

Posted by admin Latest Politics, Olusegun Obasanjo (1976-79, 99-07), Presidency Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

A former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has blamed the economic problem in the country on Obasanjo, saying that the former president, on assumption of office as president in 1999, after returning from prison, was busy travelling across the world, instead of addressing the problems of poverty and infrastructural deficit.

Speaking with journalists in his residence on Tuesday, Ladoja said “Obasanjo had a very good opportunity as president. But he was, at the same time, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Obasanjo gave more time settling scores with people rather than face the task of governance.

“We have not been lucky. If Obasanjo considered himself lucky to have come out of prison and gone into State House, he would have dedicated his time to services, not to self aggrandisement. Maybe he would have been a better president.”

Also, the former governor traced the present state of insecurity in the nation to poor handling of the Boko Haram insurgence and other security issues in the country.

The Accord Party leader, who is also its state governorship candidate in the April poll, suggested that for peace to be restored in the country, the Federal Government should constitute a peace panel, to identify possible ways of addressing the Boko Haram crisis.

Ladoja, who posited that there could be no development in an atmosphere of crises, said the Federal Government, rather than inaugurating an all inclusive peace panel, wrongly allowed Obasanjo alone to dialogue with the family of the slain Boko Haram leader.

He stated further that a peace committee, comprising past presidents and heads of state, most of who were from the North, would have handled the situation better than Obasanjo.

“I would have thought that a concerted effort from the former heads of state who know the people better would yield a better result.

“We still have Abdulsalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida is still alive. Shehu Shagari is still alive and Boko Haram is a northern issue. I would have thought that they could broker the peace between Nigeria and Boko Haram,” Ladoja said.

The former governor, who noted that the dreaded Islamic sect needed to be informed on the need for the country to tap from the opportunity of Western education, said attempts to engage the group in a fight would be wrong and disastrous.

-Tribunewp_posts