Nigeria’s former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday, gleefully announced that he single-handedly picked Alhaji Sule Lamido to be the governor of Jigawa State, insisting that his choice had paid off.
Obasanjo, who was speaking at an economic and investment summit held at the Sir Ahmadu Bello Conference Hall, Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, said that Governor Lamido had shown by his achievements in office that he was the right person for the job.
“You people of Jigawa, once again, I congratulate you and I congratulate myself, because if you can say, yes, Obasanjo forced this one (Governor Lamido) on us, it is a good forcing.
“You can help anybody to find a job, but you cannot help anybody to do the job. In this case, we found a job for Sule Lamido, he was ready, willing, able and competent to do the job,” he said.
Speaking further, he said, “Some people are saying one person can’t make changes. This is rubbish; if you have a competent person who knows where he is going to, he can make changes along with his team that would impact the lives of people as we have seen it in Jigawa State.”
Obasanjo, who disclosed that he cancelled his trip to Morocco in order to celebrate Democracy Day in Jigawa with Governor Lamido, described his one time Foreign Affairs Minister as “a person who exhibited good governance and one who is also competent to rule Nigeria.”
The ex-President said good governance is key for any practical and factual economic development plan because “the government is not expected to invest directly but to provide enabling environment for private investors to implement the plan”.
Obasanjo also described Jigawa as one of the most investor-friendly states in the country.
“The way Governor Lamido revitalised the Jigawa state education sector, made adequate provision of good roads network, infrastructures, social security, free trade, has now made the state be a haven for investors, and, to the best of my knowledge, today there is no state in Nigeria which investors’ confidence on can be greater than Jigawa State,” said Obasanjo who ruled the country from 1999 to 2007.
“I am optimistic that this summit would help in mapping out a long-term economic plan that could lead to the successful economic development which can be translated into increase of employment, wealth creation, poverty reduction and improve the well-being of the people of the state and Nigeria.”
Obasanjo noted that for the country to transform from the land of opportunity to the land of actuality, emphasis had to be placed on education, infrastructure, social security and human development.
Our former president never fails when it comes to manipulation!
Why should he be one pick him?