Peerless OBJ – a president who cannot be compared with any other because none is close to his political and intellectual sagacity in Nigeria since 1999. A man with grace, unbounded and unconstrained, in forms and ways. A leader who got the crickets to sing, the hibiscus flowers to blossom, and citizens inspired as the eastern energy of the sun broke.
A man who engineered a rebirth and restoration, offering a prosperous virtuoso nation towards a colorful, fluidic, vibrant and open society, blended with harmattan frills and the power of the rainfalls. Across all vistas, a leader of immense intelligence, competence, and pragmatism. Bold, nationalistic, fair and unalloyed in the pursuit of excellence.
He was for ALL Nigerians, and under him, everyone was a Nigerian. He made boys to believe, girls to dream, and men and women to develop a magma of optimistic exuberance.
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OBJ as president was a man of infectious broad knowledge, with an enormous vision, who within a mere 6 months stimulated vibrancy in the private sector and moved the public sector out of its stasis. He brought reforms at scale. With his leadership, Nigeria witnessed changes in trade, education, and commerce as a battalion of knowledge workers emerged, deepening our positioning globally.
He MADE jobs as a product in Nigeria, with banks using big halls for recruitments. He delivered leadership with no chauvinistic philosophy, treating Ndubuisi, Fatima, Ekong, Tunde, etc with respect, and extracting the best out of all, towards building a nation.
For all the things he introduced in the Nigerian lexicon – mobile, GSM, efficiency – the greatest was #Confidence. Yes, the confidence that as a people who could rise. General, Chief, we are honoured that you found time to visit Abia State. Abia will do its part to take the nation to the mountaintop and restore the dignity of Nigeria!
Bear with me, I am OBJ’s #1 fan. I admire him and may the Good Lord continue to keep him going. He made things easier for my generation, And I salute him! Did you notice that he stood up to speak? A GENERAL and a President, and a great CITIZEN.
Peerless OBJ – a president who cannot be compared with any other because none is close to his political and intellectual sagacity in Nigeria since 1999. A man with grace, unbounded and unconstrained, in forms and ways. A leader who got the crickets to sing, the hibiscus flowers… pic.twitter.com/2WydOR1VTG
— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) March 22, 2024
Update (March 23, 2024):
Why are some people attacking me for praising Obasanjo? People, you have no chance. OBJ did what as a young man I expected him to do: he created opportunities and my generation was put in the right path of success. And when that man comes to Abia, I am thrilled because like OBJ worked for my generation, Abia worked for us also in my time.
Yes, in Abia, the literacy rate is close to 96%, and even though it may “not” have a lot of resources, there is no record of abandoning primary and secondary schools. I respect that for Abia. And that respect is connected to these men and women who taught me in secondary secondary:
Mathematics – Mr Alaohuru/Mr Aham
Further Mathematics – Mr Ukeni
Physics – Mr Onyezewe
Chemistry – Udeagu Jr
Biology – Mr Bobo
Igbo Language – Papa Iyke/ Madam Odumuko
Agric Science – Mrs Aduanya
Geography – Mazi Oji
English Language – Mr Eze
Principal – Mr Ogbonnia
For OBJ, he served and we will continue to praise him.
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The man who became the president in 1999, taking over from the military. It could have been a perfect time to make excuses and keep blaming the khaki boys for messing things up. But the man went to work, he was never lacking capacity nor confidence. Today you can make excuses and tell us how those you took over from destroyed things, and you have people defending your incompetence and poor judgment all the way.
It is not good to live in the past, but when nothing in the present inspires confidence, you will be left with no option but to keep reaching far back in the past, for inspiration and courage. That is how things are currently in Nigeria, a place where the past holds more promise than the present, and it’s not a misstatement.
It takes uncommon humility to understand your meagre capacity, else you ruin things for everyone. We will get right someday at national level. For some of us, it’s either full or empty, no half or quarter measure is adequate.