Independence: Nigeria still ‘bedwetting’ at 63- APC Chieftain
… Says nothing to celebrate about
By Lanre Oloyede
Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Lekan Jackson-Ojo, has stated that Nigeria has little or nothing to celebrate at 63 as the country is yet to show any proof of maturity as a nation.
Nigeria, on October 1st, marked her 63rd anniversary of independence from colonial rule but according to the party chieftain, the country can only be likened to a 63-year-old man who still bedwets despite having come of age.
According to Jackson-Ojo, Nigeria cannot be said to be independent in any wise as the nation still depends largely on foreign manufacturing and production.
The APC chieftain, who spoke to our correspondent in an exclusive interview, is of the opinion that the last 63 years of Nigeria is one of backwardness and retrogression with nothing to show for it.
He decried the years of poor leadership that followed the exit of the founding fathers and nationalists who fought for the independence of the nation and developed it to enviable heights.
“Nigeria at 63, is 63 years of backwardness. The first set of leaders we have in this country, let me name just 5 of them: Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, those people were the leaders that we can call leaders, those were the leaders that came to lead the country out of poverty, out of backwardness, out political decadence and others. But since after that time we’ve not been fairing well at all.
“Let us come to this present nascent democracy, when Obasanjo was there from 1999 to 2007, I think things were still a bit better, compared to what we are having today. Even when Goodluck Jonathan was there, I think we were still very better but since my party, APC, I’m a chieftain of APC, grabbed power with the slogan of change things have changed for bad and now to worst.
“So I don’t really know why we are celebrating independence today. What type of independence are we celebrating today when we are dependent on foreign production of fuel, of rice, of meat, electorobics, textile, even electricity through importation of generator. We depend on China, India, America and other Western world.
“I make bold to say on another platform, Nigeria is still bedwetting in a situation where a man of 63 cannot feed his family, to me we are not fairing well at all. We still have a long way to go. 63 years that should be 63 years of advancement is 63 years of reverse, is 63 years of poverty, backwardness and stagnation.
Speaking on the solution, Chief Jackson-Ojo said: “We have leadership problem in this country and no leader is effectively fighting corruption, in a situation where you are fighting corruption and you know that some people in the system are highly corrupt, in a situation where people that are corrupt in last administration, nobody is ready to probe them to collect this money from them. A situation whereby somebody that is riding okada becomes a member of House of Representatives and within four years he becomes a multi-millionaire, in a situation whereby somebody that doesn’t have a serious business, that has not managed any serious business before is rigged to power through the weakness of an electoral system.
“The way forward is for people to come together and revolt, not violent revolt, the revolution should start from Bayelsa, Kogi, Imo and Edo in the next gubernatorial elections. Not violent revolution but revolution through the ballot by voting for the right candidates.
“God has given us everything but INEC has always been giving us Pharaoh. We’ve not had a Moses. Nigerians are still expecting their Moses. All we’ve gotten so far are Pharaohs.”
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