According to Matthew Hassan-Kukah, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, past presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as the current president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), were all ill-prepared when they were elected to lead Nigeria.
The bishop asserted that no President or Head of State in Nigerian history ever arrived prepared to hold the nation’s most important citizen position.
“You go all the way down in Nigeria, you’re not going to find one single person who has been President or Head of State in Nigeria that arrived equipped for the position,” Kukah said in an interview with Channels Television for a show that aired Sunday night.
The monk explained the relationship between Nigeria and its political leaders as a “poor marriage,” saying, “As a priest, I often stress to people that the cure to a bad marriage is not a new marriage. It’s frequently an effort to examine what went wrong. Also, if you enter a new marriage too rapidly, you may eventually miss your first union.
He added, “A lot of these developments that we have seen in Nigeria are basically unprogrammed,” and claimed that one could make the same claim about that country.
“Military coups by themselves that spanned over 20 years were merely glorified banditry and armed robbery since you pull the trigger and become a Head of State,” the cleric continued, making further allusion to the military era.
He pointed out that Nigeria hadn’t yet produced an executive leader who was truly qualified for the position.
“If I take you back, President Buhari is in office right now. Buhari stated, “I don’t want to be President again, I’m exhausted,” back in 2011. Screaming, he was dragged out to run for president in 2015.
“He succeeded (Goodluck) Jonathan in office. You are aware of the circumstances that led to Jonathan’s ascension to power. Before him, (Umar) Yar’Adua had already declared, “I’m done; I want to return to teach in the university,” according to Kukah.
Kukah pointed out that Yar’Adua’s predecessor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, similarly displayed same lack of readiness.
“Obasanjo was incarcerated in the hope that one day he would escape and, if he was strong enough, return to his farm. You may continue forever,” he added.
When (General Sani) Abacha passed away and Abdulsalami took over as head of state, he was just about to retire from the military. That’s where you have to go back to if we’re going to the crime site, he continued.
