Disgruntled ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has described Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, as the “dwarf of Africa.” He claimed that although God created Nigeria to be great, Nigerians have made the country a giant with feet of clay.

“So, we must continue to hold ourselves together, pray and understand all the factors and the elements that are making us not to be the giant, but the dwarf of Africa and how we can get out of it and I believe and pray that we will get out of it,” Mr Obasanjo made this statement at a lecture in Abeokuta organised to commemorate his 86th birthday over the weekend. 

“God has created Nigeria for a great purpose. At independence, the world did not refer to Nigeria as giant in Africa. They referred to Nigeria as giant in the sun; Nigeria was more than giant in Africa,” said the ex-president who discredited the results of the presidential election held on February 25. “It was giant in the sun. But not only have we not been giant in the sun. We have not even been giant in Africa. Some people called us giant with clay feet.” 

Decrying how the country’s resources and goodwill have been mismanaged, Mr Obasanjo stated, “That is not what God has created Nigeria to be. That is what we Nigerians have inadvertently or advertently made Nigeria to be. But will Nigeria continue to be so? I believe no.”

Mr Obasanjo’s statement came days after Peoples Gazette published a leaked audio revealing his plots with Charly Boy and former Governor Donald Duke on mobilising young Nigerians to protest the emergence of Bola Tinubu as president-elect. 

In the audio, Mr Obasanjo told Charly Boy and the former Cross River governor to lead the protest that would “paralyse” the country, adding that if President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime decided to unleash security operatives to kill the youth “let them kill.”