Nigerians must make right choice in 2023 to survive – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said Nigerians must make the right choice in the 2023 general election to make progress.

Obasanjo, who was a special guest of honour at the Wilson Badejo Foundation’s 15th annual lecture with the theme, ‘Overcoming the twin challenge of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria’ held in Lagos on Wednesday, said making the wrong choice in the election may consume the nation.

According to the octogenarian, Nigeria has not taken its rightful place among nations because of poverty and insecurity.

The former President, however, urged Nigerians to make the right choice during the 2023 general election, saying the right choice would make the country witness progress.

Obasanjo said: “It is either we make the right choice in 2023 because if we make the right choice, we would get there.

“However, if we do not make the right choice in 2023, things would consume us and we pray against that one. We must make the right choice in 2023.

“Nigeria is not where it is supposed to be today. If anyone says it is okay where we are at the moment, then the person’s head needs to be examined.

“My friend, late Ahmed Joda, used to tell me that God has given us everything a nation needs and there’s no need for prayers because if God has given you everything and you squandered it, then something is wrong.

“I told him that even at that, we still need prayers as a nation because what is good needs prayers, and on the other side too, we still need more prayers.”

The guest speaker, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof Eghosa Osaghea, in his presentation, explained that when “one country fails the individual, then that individual becomes a failure”.

“Poverty cannot divide us but it binds us what divides us is corruption. If you see street protests across the world, it is the poor who do it.

“Corruption, by whatever means, is what causes division.

“Many people today dig their boreholes for water, employ private security units, etc, yet, these are things that the state should have put in place.

“It is the duty of the state to provide these for the common good of all,” he noted.