Obasanjo To New Leaders: Sustain Your Predecessors’ Programmes

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has charged incumbent political office holders to stop destroying the programmes and policies of their predecessors.

He said the ascension to political offices does not empower incumbents to destroy laudable policies and programmes of their predecessors.

Obasanjo spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital at an international conference with the theme: “Deepening Democratic Culture and Institutions for Sustainable Development and Security in Nigeria.”

He said while it does not matter the party a predecessor belonged to, new leaders should sustain the policies and projects of their predecessors in as much as the programmes are in the interest of the people.

The former president, whose address was titled: “Respecting The Principles Of Democracy”, said, “In Nigeria, each new government behaves as if Nigeria is a newly found country.”

“In fact, during campaigns, some leaders sound as if they plan to reinvent Nigeria and create new Nigerians overnight. That is because they miss the aspect of democracy that emphasizes continuity, stability and predictability.

“One regime can lay the foundation but it requires many regimes to continue to build positively and constructively on the foundation.”

“It is largely because we overlook and often disregard the basic principles of democracy. And somehow, we do not appreciate the damage that we do, individually and collectively, to the fabric of the nation,” he said.

Obasanjo stated that democracy is not a one-day wonder, noting that there must be continuity and predictability of policies despite changes in leadership.

The former president lamented that electoral litigations has now become a thing of luck because political actors don’t play by the rules.

He said, “We fail to understand that democracy is not a one shot-game. It is evolutionary and it takes time to ground the practice. It is not for quick change and indeed, if we play by the rules, we would all realise that regimes or governments can change but the tenets remain constant.

“We would not be so bitter with election results or overload the courts with litigations, very many of which are like ‘try your luck’.

“When we learn to play by the rules and respect the principles of democracy, we recognise that ascension to office does not empower incumbents to destroy all policies and programmes initiated by the predecessor.”

Obasanjo warned that without retracing the nation’s political steps to the right direction, the current process will either not produce the right leaders or it will leave so many broken blocks on the path to governance.