The former Governor of River State, Chibuike Amaechi, has revealed that the political class now rides on the strength of ethnicity to achieve their aim of winning political offices.
The ex Minister of transportation led this out during his speech at the 2023 TheNiche Annual Lecture themed “Why We Stride and Slip: Leadership, Nationalism, and the Nigerian Condition,” held on Thursday in Lagos.
Amaechi said that Nigeria is still searching for national leaders, and its democracy needs serious rethinking in scope and focus.
While lauding Nigerian nationalists who fought for independence, Amaechi said genuine nationalistic leadership transcends ethnicity.
He said: “The only person near that point of Nationalism, with all due respect, is Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. The rest are ethnic leaders.
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“Truly remarkable national leadership is the ability of a leader to galvanise the totality of a nation around the common national banner with a vision and a sense of mission.
“The truly remarkable national leader is the one who can rise above limitations to take the nation and its people to that place they long for but have never been before.
“It is a place of national greatness, pride, achievements, and shared goals, aspirations, and prosperity.”
He added: “There can be no credible leadership for a diverse nation without some form of resolution of the national questions as it pertains to the particular nation in question.”
