Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday advised the youth not to lose hope because of the “bad situation” of the country, assuring that there would definitely be light at the end of the dark tunnel.
Obasanjo said he would continue to remain optimistic about Nigeria and her future, recalling that when everybody appeared to have concluded that there was no more hope for pre – 1999 Nigeria, he cameout of the prison to rekindle hope and turned things around.
The elder statesman who gave the advice while addressing a cross section of youths in Ogun state during a day symposium on “Youth Governance and Dialogue,” at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library(OOPL), Abeokuta, the state capital, added that same feat was achieved when he was military Head of States.
“Haven run or taken care of a very substantial number of soldiers in the war front, the soldiers from a division have lost hope, in the sense that, they have lost the fighting spirit and within a space of six months, that division was saved and that division ended the Nigerian civil war.
“Haven run the affairs of Nigeria as a military head of state when some people felt there was virtually no hope about Nigeria and we turned it around.
And haven taken care of Nigeria when I came out of the Prison when some people told me that I will be the last President of Nigeria, because after me there will be no Nigeria again because the situation was so bad. I have come to have tremendous hope in Nigeria and I optimistic.
So, I am an incurable optimist about Nigeria. During the government of Muritala Mohammed and I, Nigerian soldiers who were working in Lagos and who had to go to office in public transport, don’t wear their uniform .They did not wear their uniform they were ashamed but within the space of six months, they were proudly wearing their uniform. So, it can be done.
“Don’t lose hope, the situation is bad. The current situation is bad, I don’t need to tell you that, I can see the light beyond the tunnel. There is light beyond the tunnel,” Obasanjo said.
