Nigeria needs more ‘rebels’, says Obasanjo

One former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, said that for Nigeria to move forward, “more rebels” needed to dare to speak the truth to the authorities.

Obasanjo said Nigeria needed more rebels who would tell the truth to power without thinking about whose cows were being horned.

The former president spoke on Saturday in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, as he opened the autobiography of Babanla Adinni of Egbaland, Chief Tayo Sowunmi titled ‘Footprints of a rebel’

Shortly before the opening of the autobiography, Obasanjo said that anyone who has to live honestly and with integrity must be 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. There would be some time you would be asked have to do something, but you would say no, this is not right. And when you say that you will become a rebel. You may even become a persona non grata.

“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.”

However, he praised the octogenarian for living a “model life worthy of being emulated by the younger generation.”

Earlier in his speech, Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Father Tunde Bakare, called for reintegration between the old and younger generations, as part of efforts to rebuild Nigeria.