Efforts of past leaders, especially those of the First Republic to unite Nigeria failed because they were regional but not nationalistic in their programmes and policies, former President Goodluck Jonathan lamented on Saturday.
Jonathan however explained that the leaders did their best to also position the country for economic prosperity, while the attempts yielded more to centrifugal forces which reinforced ethnic interests.
The former President also charged Nigerians to be circumspect in the exercise of their voting rights, saying, “We must shift away from the politics of bread and butter.”
Jonathan stated this in his paper titled: ‘Lasting legacy: Key to Nigeria’s development issues’, at the one-year memorial lecture in honour of late Captain Hosa Okunbo in Abuja.
According to him, the present crop of leaders inherited a country that was already balkanised into three regions and later…
