A former Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, on Monday lamented that the problems confronting the country were beyond the comprehension of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The former Governor therefore advocated for a more dynamic leadership for the nation during the 2011 election.

Jakande, who is the National Chairman of the Action Party of Nigeria, made this remark at the national convention of his party in Lagos, which attracted executive members from various states of the country.

This is even as a former Adviser on Agriculture to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, criticised what he called the retrogressive nature of things under the Yar’Adua administration.

Jakande said the President did not possess the political mechanism that will proffer solution to the many problems confronting the nation, a situation he regretted, was further compounded by his state of health.

He said, “The Yar’Adua administration does not seem ready to govern. Although, the President is a nice person, but you can see that the problems are beyond him. Apart from his health, which is a pity, he does not have the political machine with which to govern. He is on a wrong journey.

“The country needs a more dynamic leadership and the way forward for 2011 is to effect a change. So, many things need to be fixed presently.”

The former Lagos Governor regretted that the President had not been able to achieve any of his electoral promises he made while contesting to be President of the nation.

He noted that the APN would join hands with other progressives in the country to effect a change in the polity.

Abdullahi, at a public lecture organised by the Centre for Creativity and Leadership Development in Kaduna, regretted that rather than the country progressing, it had been retrogressing under the current administration, with various untoward happenings.

Abdullahi who is also a former Vice-Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, argued that current statistics showed that Nigeria was grouped among the 25 poorest countries in the world, despite having all the potentials for development.

He said, “Do we have the leadership to move Nigeria forward? The answer is No! But then, what about the soldiers in mufti, who do whatever they like irrespective of what you want them to do?”

He therefore warned that if the country’s leadership continued to tread the current path, it would end up being grouped amongst the six poorest countries of the world by 2020 rather than as one of the 20 economies in the world.

Abdullahi said, “At independence, when some of us were leaving the universities, we had all the potentials and endowment for this country to make progress in every human endeavours. It is sad that 50 years after independence, we are still grappling with basic human needs.

“How can you have 60 per cent of your labour force not being able to feed the world? In America, only three per cent are on the farm, while in Europe, you have just seven per cent. Where is the political will to move Nigeria forward?”