FORMER Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Attahiru Jega says that Nigeria has been afflicted with the misfortune of having greedy and visionless leaders who are essentially clueless in matters of governance.
According to a report, Jega said this on Saturday while delivering a lecture in honour of the First Civilian Governor of Lagos Lateef Jakande.
Describing Jakande as an undoubtedly selfless leader, the former INEC boss stated that Nigerian leaders’ lack of selflessness and vision had led to recklessness in the handling of governmental affairs.
“One of the major challenges of good democratic governance in Nigeria is that of having selfless, patriotic, inclusive and effective leadership in order to drive Nigeria national affairs and the development of the political economy towards the goal of democratic governance,” he said.
Jega also noted that getting things right in Nigeria would require selflessness and vision on the part of the leaders.
Part of the lecture posted on his Twitter handle on Monday was met with mixed reactions by Nigerians on the social media.
While some Twitter users described Jega’s statements as hypocritical and accused him of being the ‘architect of our doom,’ other Nigerians stated that he was entitled to his sentiments and described elections under him as largely free and fair.
Jega was chairman of INEC in 2015, during which he presided over the general elections that ushered the Muhammadu Buhari-led government into power. He had previously conducted the 2011 election that brought in Goodluck Jonathan.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.