Dr Tunji Braithwaite, an octoge­narian, politician, lawyer and elder statesman, in this inter­view broadcast on Abeokuta, Ogun State-based Rockcity FM, went down memory lane to recall political de­velopments in the country.
He singled out former President Olusegun Obasanjo as one not to be counted among respectable Nigerian leaders. LAWRENCE ENYO­GHASU monitored the interview. Ex­cerpts:

Recently, a statement from former President Obasanjo had generated con­troversy, that Awolowo was actually not a formal or elected leader of Yoruba, that he was loved by some supporters and not the entire Yoruba nation?

Well, I don’t know why a man like Obasanjo with his antecedent can still be a reference point among highly respectable, intellectually-sound Nigerians, because Obasanjo himself does not pretend to be a serious person.

But he has ruled this country longer than anybody?

Well, I cannot ascribe that to a mark of excellence, anybody can rule the country. The Bible tells you, even the basest of men can be placed over a nation, go and look at Daniel 3. That’s the problem with Nige­rians, we are very resourceful people but you’re so gullible that you worship medi­ocrity. But not every Nigerian, so don’t use Obasanjo as a respectable reference point, I dismiss whatever he said concerning Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Nigerian politicians by and large are irresponsible, Nigerian pol­iticians don’t give a damn about your in­terest, Nigerian politicians look… just to show you how unscrupulous they are, look at the wave of defection from PDP to APC. Soon, you will find them again moving the other way. Nigerian politicians have no re­spect even among the people of this coun­try.

The fact that they purport to win elec­tion does not mean that they won; we all know what is going on. But even then it is not difficult for any intelligent mind to see what is wrong. We are waiting to see sons and daughters of this country, well cultured from their homes who will have principle, and until you put such people in positions of authority, the country is not going to make any appreciable progress. So, don’t tell me what Nigerian politicians want. It is quite different from what the masses, from what even our generation, our educated sons and daughters even want.
How can you say two-party system in a multi-cul­tural, multi-religious and multi-dimension­al country like ours want? I mean, even there should be position for independent candidacy. It is because they simply know that they cannot toy with bright, honest, cultured, young generation of Nigerians which abound across the whole country.

You are a member of the national confab that was held in 2014. Laudable and accept­able as that programme was, as we speak, nothing has been done on that report. What do you think should be done?

Well, that national conference as far as am concerned was the best national conference that has ever been held in respect of Nigeria when compared with the pre-independence conference that was held in the UK; because in that conference, membership was drawn from all the parts of the country and taking account of the peculiarities of each of the different places.
Even the youths and trade unions were all represented.
And that confer­ence endeavoured seriously to look into what I would call “recurrent issues’’ that have bedev­illed this nation’s development and cohesion. That conference did it’s best to highlight these issues and make corrections where necessary in ministries or governance or the question of devolution of power. I have heard that Buhari said that he is not interested in the outcome of that confer­ence. If he really said so, it will be a big mis­take for him.

If he ignores the outcome of that conference, because as I said that conference is the best that we have had so far in trying to give a country to all Nigerians that will be pleasing to everybody. Pleasing in the sense that everybody will have what he/she is enti­tled to, each can develop at their pace, there will be no issue regarding revenue allocation.

Let each zone keep what it produces and let us agree what activities will be contributed to the centre or the operations of the Federal Government. So, can you have anything more equitable and fairer than that? But some peo­ple will not want it because they simply set their eyes on oil.
Because oil is easy to mine, they can just get workers and just fold their arms, and will either sell it or sub-contract it to international buyer, who comes and just take us cheap, while they will just collect the pro­ceeds and share it to individuals. It is wrong. You can never have truth, you can never have judgment with that kind of development. That is why the local people where the oil is coming from engage in self-help, hoping on what they can scoop from the oil.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/obasanjo-has-lost-respect-of-nigerians-tunji-braithwaite/

Seriously !!!!!

"Obasanjo is a clownish baboon" - omenka

He went too far...

Ha

Some how obj think himself a god

One of the few reasonable and honorable men of integrity in Yoruba land

T

yorubatic:
My fetish yoruba ostriches and diabolical hypocrites will not agrees with tunji...they want us believe obj is their tiny god ..

It's only the myopic ones who prefers to serve feudal lords will disagree with Tunji Braithwaite.

This man makes sense....its time for true federalism

The best interview I have heard from a western stock. Truth is bitter

Caseless:
He went too far...

How

Caseless:
He went too far...

Chai! Sorry nah!

Oh kkkkk. I think I've finally understood why the north were against this confab report.

They own over 70something percent of the oil wells. They won't agree to this. Groundnut can't keep the north running... Rubbish

Blood suckers (pun intended)

Oga T, wetin u talk all na correct correction.
But na one thing , na u oga T be the clown, if all this years that all of naija don cofirm , say baba iyabo na comedian.... Na now u dey realised.. Na him be say na u be the clown.

Obasanjo himself does not pretend to be a serious person.