Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticized President Bola Tinubu, describing him as “Baba-go-slow,” while lamenting the state of Nigeria under his administration.
Obasanjo delivered these remarks during his keynote address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum held at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, over the weekend.
In his address titled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria,” Obasanjo painted a bleak picture of the country’s condition, attributing its challenges to pervasive corruption and leadership deficiencies. He remarked:
“As the world can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad. The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restrictiveness, confusion, violence, and underdevelopment.”
Obasanjo continued his critique, stating that Nigeria’s status as a failing state has become undeniable under Tinubu’s leadership. He declared:
“That’s the situation mostly in Nigeria in the reign of Baba-go-slow and Emilokan. The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see through the consequences of the level of our pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, incompetence, and all other forms of iniquity. But yes, there is hope.”
Referencing Chinua Achebe’s 1983 classic “The Trouble with Nigeria,” Obasanjo echoed its core argument, attributing the nation’s woes squarely to its leadership. He stated:
“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.”
Despite his sharp critique, Obasanjo expressed optimism, suggesting that Nigeria could overcome its challenges with the emergence of responsible and visionary leadership.
The forum, which centered on leadership and governance, provided a platform for the former president to draw attention to the urgent need for reform in Nigeria’s political and administrative systems.
