Olusegun Obasanjo, formal President of Nigeria, at the 2022 annual lecture of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF) urged elders of Nigeria, especially the politicians to allow the youths take charge of politics for the building of a great nation.
The programme, which held on Monday, tagged “Beyond Boko Haram: Addressing Insurgency, Banditry and Kidnapping across Nigeria”.
Former Head of State, Murtala Muhammed, was killed, aged 37, along with his aide-de-camp, Lieut. Akintunde Akinsehinwa, on February 13, 1976, in a failed coup.
Olusegun Obasanjo said rather than compete, the older generation should collaborate with the younger ones and provide them with the requisite knowledge and experience to transform the country for the better.
As a response to the statement made in a keynote address by Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, who stated that he was in primary school when the late Murtala and Olusegun Obasanjo led our nation.
“We need to have an intergenerational collaboration. Fayemi said he was in primary school when Murtala- Olusegun Obasanjo were there. So, if people of Murtala- Olusegun Obasanjo are competing with you, as governor then something is wrong.
“Murtala-Obasanjo group should be stepping aside. Whatever experience and knowledge you have, we should be able to give it to you and should be able to give it to those coming after you, so that whatever you have you are passing it down to those of you who are coming behind not to start competing with you but make you have access to what would make you Nigeria better you find it,” Olusegun Obasanjo said.
The Chief Executive Officer of the foundation and daughter of the late military Head of State, Dr. Aisha Muhammed Oyewole, pledged the commitment of the organisation to improving the socio-economic development of Africa in line with the ideals of her late father.
“We have made notable impacts in the lives of people, especially the marginalised, disadvantaged, and vulnerable in addition to contributing to promoting good governance and empowerment.”
In the keynote by Fayemi he stated that “Looking beyond Boko Haram, the clarion call to us as Nigerians is clear: In the face of a broken socio-economic fabric that has generated so much anguish, despair, and distrust among us, we must step back and summon that Nigerian genius that is innate in us in order to reimagine our country and reinvent our vision of oneness.
“To do this, it is evident to me that the time has come, and it cannot be postponed, for a new compact to be forged between state and society whose centerpiece must be an inclusive and expansive project of human security in our land.
“Clearly, the leadership in the most affected state in the North East has been up to the task in terms of its response to forging a new compact between state and society. Yet, in spite of the best efforts of my brother, Governor Babagana Zulum and his government following in the footsteps of former Governor Kashim Shettima, it’s clear that what is required is a comprehensive national response, not an isolated state strategy,” Fayemi said.
