Jonathan Responsible for Nigeria’s Predicament-Cleric

AbdulRofiu Agboola

A Muslim cleric, Dr Asif AbdulAzeez-Olatunbosun, has said that former President Jonathan was responsible for the current economic and security challenges facing Nigeria.

Olatunbosun maintained that lack of courage and political will to take decisive action and financial recklessness of the former President destroyed the country’s economy and jeopardized her security system.

The cleric stated this during the 21st Ramadan Lecture organized by Ola-Olu Muslim Society of Nigeria, Iwo, Osun State in honour of Sheikh Alhaji Hamoda Tiamiyu Oyebode-Adisa.

Delivering lecture on “Challenges of Leadership, Morality and Financial Transparency in Islam” Olatunbosun insisted that the present security and economic challenges  facing the country would have been curtailed had President Jonathan taken a courageous step towards curbing the menaces before escalating to this level.

Olatunbosun who is the Chief Imam, Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu Ijebu, Ogun State, lamented the severe damage that corruption has caused on the nation’s economy before the inception of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

He said only courageous and transparent leader could run the affairs of the country and restore peace and economic stability to the nation.

“Former President Goodluck Jonathan did not surround himself with aids sufficiently imbued with the qualities and abilities to help him out; most of them were only interested in what goes into their pockets. The former president himself was not courageous enough to tell them the truth for the fear of losing their support”, he said.

The cleric added that most of Nigerian leaders lack broad vision; courage, fairness, morality and financial transparency, saying that is responsible for the recent incident of ‘budget padding’ at the National Assembly and series of cases of diversion of public fund to personal usage.

Enunciating some of the qualities of good leadership, Olotunbosun said a good leader must be honest; transparent, courageous, God fearing, trustworthy and be personally endowed with the ability to foresee what is likely to happen in future.

He added that a good leader must be committed to the needs of the people and live up to their expectations.

The Chief Imam noted that any leader who lacks vision; knowledge, confidence, understanding, concentration, capacity, sense of security, courage, moral and ethical principles, character and passion to move the nation forward on a fast trajectory is not fit to govern the country.

He therefore charged Nigerian leaders on the need to always put the interest and welfare of their followers in mind, declaring that they shall all be made to account for what they did while in office.

In his address, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul-Rosheed Adewale-Akanbi charged Nigerian leaders to be God fearing, saying they should all remember that life is ephemeral and whatever position they hold today would surely become a thing of past.

Oba Akanbi stated that a leader should always see himself as servant who is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring the well-being of his people, warning them to desist from any act capable of tarnishing their image

Commenting on the state of the nation, Oluwo commended President Muhammed Buhari for his relentless effort towards moving the country to a promised land, describing the president as God sent angel to liberate people of the country.