Na’Abba ridicules Obasanjo, others

*Says ex-leaders accidental presidents

From FRED ITUA, Abuja

Former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and other ex political office holders in Nigeria within the last 18 years are accidental leaders, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Ghali Umar Na’ Abba, has claimed.

Na’abba who stated this in Abuja at the weekend, during the 2016/2017 Matriculation and Fellowship Endowment of the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS), blamed the nation’s leadership recruitment process for the accidental leadership problem, as against prepared and vision-driven leadership obtainable in most other democracies of the world.

“Circumstances at hand or situations on ground have to a large extent over the years determined who and who were elected into office in Nigeria as presidents since 1999 as against the level of preparedness on the part of the leaders in terms of clear vision and programmes obtainable in most democracies of the world culminating in accidental leadership for the country,” he said.

According him, accidental leadership brings about trial and error in governance which has been the lot of Nigeria since 1999 till now with attendant poor governance and frustrations on the part of Nigerians.

He expressed regret that leadership recruitment process in the country has been hijacked by a few politicians. He therefore advocated for what he called regular ‘tutorials’ for political leaders at all levels and called on more Nigerians to participate in politics with a view to opening up the political space.

Na’Abba said: “I believe that not just the legislature, every arm of government that is serving the purpose of governance must invest in exposing democracy to the people. It is a sad commentary on our political life that today recruitment into leadership has been subverted by a few politicians because they deny Nigerians opportunity to contest elections and achieve their aspirations through the systematic appropriation of political parties to themselves.

“These politicians have stopped the growth of democracy. And it is true that unless democracy is allowed to grow, we cannot achieve the desired political growth, we cannot achieve the desired economic growth and we can also not achieve the desired social growth in our country. And that is why we are still in political, economic and social duldrums. We have been having successive accidental leaders since 1999.

“It is time for us to begin to understand that the more participation Nigerians enjoy in politics, the more political development we attain. And consequently economic and social development.