Obasanjo: Why Nigeria needs more rebels

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said Nigeria needs more rebels that will say truth to power and refuse to do things that will not benefit the nation.

He stated this in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, on Saturday while unveiling the autobiography of the Babanla Adinni of Egbaland, Chief Tayo Sowunmi, titled “Footprints of a rebel.”

Obasanjo said, “Looking at the title of the book, I ask myself: why would someone call himself a rebel? But it is good. But the truth is that if you have to leave a life of honesty and integrity, you have to become a rebel.”

He added that being a rebel in this sense could make those in power profiting from the proceeds of wrongdoings to declare one a persona non grata.

He said, “Our country, there is no country that we can call our own except Nigeria. Our country, Nigeria, needs more rebels. Those who would look at things straight in the face and say ‘this is not right; this, I will not be part of, this is not good for Nigeria’.”

Obasanjo, however, lauded Showunmi.

He said the Octogenarian lived “an exemplary life worthy of emulation by the younger generation.”