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An elderly statesman is
An experienced and respected politician, any public figure who has held a high office for decades.
The former president Olusegun Obasanjo is an elderly statesman for all standards. He was the military head of state between 1976 and 1979.
He returned to power in 1999 as a civil president and governed for another eight years. He would have ruled as civil president for twelve years if his ambition of the third term had succeeded.
Cumulatively, the Obasanjo head was commander – head of the armed forces for eleven years.
Therefore, Ebora Owu is eminently qualified to be called the elderly statesman.
An elderly statesman must be a foundation of principles, a moral compass and have the ability to build a consensus on national issues. Making not proven accusations, in particular corruption against the service and the former presidents would not help to build consent.
In one of his books, he accused the former vice -president Atiku Abubakar of monumental corruption. But in 2019, the head Obasanjo approved Atiku himself, a presumably corrupt man for the president’s office. This has left many Nigerians to wonder if the former president, popularly called Obj, knows what he is doing.
It is morally reprehensible for a former president to give the impression of being the only former leader of the country who is right.
During the struggle for the implementation of the presidential elections of 12 June 1993 conquered by the deceased Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, the Obasanjo head said that the philanthropist billionaire was not the Messiah of the Nigeria of which.
Recently, the head Obasanjo in his new book entitled “Nigeria; Past and Future”, released to mark his 88th birthday, said that the ambitious Lagos-Calabar coastal highway was “expensive and corruption”.
There is no place in the entire book that the former president presented evidence to confirm these serious accusations. This is able to finish its status as an elderly statesman.
If there were questions that the head Obasanjo wanted to ask the motorway project, he has direct access to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi.
As a former president and elderly statesman, he does not need an appointment to see President Tinubu.
The elderly statesmen give their advice behind closed doors without the attention of the media.
Traditionally, the former leaders of the whole world rarely emit public declarations on the decisions or activities of their successors due to the potential tensions that these observations could create. This is a global practice that other leaders passed in Nigeria adhere except the Obasanjo head.
The Lagos-Calabar SuperHighway project represents a crucial step in Nigeria’s efforts to improve connectivity, facilitate economic growth and improve the quality of life of the Nigerians.
The road connects nine states, starting from Victoria Island in Lagos in Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, rivers and ends in Calabar, the cross river state capital.
The contractor who manages the project, Hitech Construction Company Nigeria Limited is an respectable international company that has carried out high quality jobs here in Nigeria.
The Minister of Works, the Senator Umahi who regularly inspects the ongoing project testified to the quality of the work carried out by the company.
The project is neither expensive nor associated with corruption. One thing that many Nigerians, including the Obasanjo head, do not know that the federal government is providing only a cost of thirty percent of the project while the contractor is responsible for supplying for seventy percent of the cost.
The Federal Government has recently signed a construction and financing agreement for engineering contracts (EPC+F) with Hitech Construction Company which will allow the company to find seventy percent of the funds requested to complete the sufficient that will be rolled up for completion.
Through the toll, he will recover his investment on the seven hundred and fifty kilometers.
President Tinubu should be encouraged to carry out his Legacy projects, including the Lagos -Calabar coastal motorway and, the SuperHighway Sokoto -Badagry who are able to open Nigeria for further economic activities.
Osikhekha is a public business analyst
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