A first-class traditional ruler in Rivers State, Eze Chukwumela Nnam-Obi II, has warned politicians in Nigeria against divisive actions and utterances as the country prepares for the forthcoming general elections.
He said politicians have a lot to learn from Nigeria’s second republic President, late Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who gave a nation just emerging from the stranglehold of the military an uncommon moral leadership and selfless service.
Nnam-Obi II, who is the Oba of Ogbaland, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, recalled Shagari’s nationalistic disposition and unblemished meritorious service to the nation.
He expressed regrets that most of the present crop of politicians, rather than being more nationalistic, are so extremely sectional and incompetent to steer the ship of state away from the troubled waters in which Nigerians presently find their selves.
The monarch said: “I can recall Shagari’s nationalistic disposition and unblemished meritorious service to the nation. But, it is regrettable that most of the present crop of politicians, rather than being more nationalistic, are so extremely sectional and incompetent to steer the ship of state away from the troubled waters in which we presently find ourselves.
Read Also:
“What is central to Nigeria’s problem in the misfortune of having come under leaders, almost all of whom have proved far too incompetent and far too steeped in corruption to meaningfully to tackled the country’s myriad of problems, and give our beleaguered people an abiding sense of direction.
“Although Shagari can be excused for presiding over the nation at a period when our optimism about what was possible far out-stripped our capacities to build and to preserve most public men and those seeking political positions lack the deceased (Shagari’s) pristine virtues which they almost unanimously but shamefully extolled at his demise last December.
“Rather than imbibe the legacy of selfless and purposeful service which Shagari bequeathed, most of our politicians are being so mindlessly desperate for power that they incapable of identifying the nation’s key problems, assess their magnitudes, analyze them with a clear-minded, clearheaded objectivity and proffer a long-term corporate approach towards their solution.
“At any rate, the times demand from the country’s politicians’ fresh insights and far-reaching solutions to the nation’s problems instead of merely dressing up old remedies that appear to only exacerbate the problem.”
The traditional ruler, who expressed regrets that politicians have been usually taciturn about how the country can be turned around and the years of waste healed, stated that no government anywhere in the world can enjoy the blessings of legitimacy and popular support while the economy is frail and recovery not in sight.
