Nigeria’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo has warned Nigerians against handing over their democracy to “thieves and Hooligans’.
OBJ made this comment while speaking at the launch of former president,Goodluck Jonathan’s book titled “My Transition Hours”.
“It unifies rather than divide if democracy is found as an instrument in the hands of Democrats. If it is in the hands of those, I call thieves, hooligans in politics; it can be a dangerous weapon.
“So, we must avoid hooligans to have access to this beautiful weapon because they might abuse and misuse it.”
He also spoke about what he described as the four seasons of a democratic politician.
He said: “The first is when you start campaigning and go round to seek for votes, then the election comes and you win. The second season is when you take up office and all is going well, then suddenly there is ups and downs, of course you came in with high popularity that’s why you are able to win election, but as you go on the popularity start to dwindle, until either you come to the expiration of your time or you lose election.
Dignitaries at the book launch
“Now the beginning of the third season, it does not matter who you are, immediately you leave office you will have lost friends, particularly the fair-weather friends, and that is a very tight period for anybody who has been elected before. Then the fourth is when you weather the storm until you start to pick up again.”
The former head of state and president who obviously has a wealth of knowledge in politics gave these nuggets of wisdom.
