Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned President Bola Tinubu and other African leaders not to push the youths to the edge with their policies.
Obasanjo, who spoke with a group of youths under the aegis of Africa for Africa Youth Initiative (A4A) at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, revealed that he became a politician by accident.
The former president stressed that his love for humanity made him join politics.
He, therefore, charged politicians to go into politics with the aim of serving their people.
He said: “Politics is about service. You must give service and nobody is too old or too young or too poor to give service. When we begin to give quality service, then we shall have qualitative governance.”
On recent military coups in some African countries, Obasanjo urged African leaders to avoid any condition that would allow military incursion into democracy.
He cautioned African leaders not to push the youths to the point of preferring a military takeover because of their policies.
The former president, however, noted that he would not support a military putsch because of his experience in the hands of a former Nigerian dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha (now deceased).
“The rising case of military coups in Africa shows that the people are tired of some things in their countries and in need of liberators.”
“The point is, do we have conditions that encourage the type of things that are happening? If we don’t have the conditions that encourage them, they may not happen.
“That does not mean it should be encouraged. What it means is that we should make sure that we do everything to prevent military takeovers from happening.
“When you see things that happen in many countries, and I will not exclude Nigeria, then you wonder. But, don’t forget particularly the youths, they support most of these military take-over,” Obasanjo added.