The former governor of Anambra state and 2023 Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said that while it is not necessary to have the best educational qualifications, a person must be honest and honourable about his or her past to be a great leader.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, the former governor spoke regarding his appearance at Princeton University where he said that political office holders must have an identity of their own, as well as authentic credentials. However, he noted that one did not need to have the best qualifications to be a leader, but to simply be honest about their background.
Obi said, “On issue of qualification, I never said anything with regard to improving the degree or doing this. The issue of qualification is the issue of leaders making statements, doing things that are honest and truthful. This is an issue of honour and integrity. It is the foundation on which you build society.
“If you look at what is happening in Nigeria today, there is so many issues of certification, age, all sorts of, one falsification or the other, all over within the leaders. There is no way people can be doing this and be able to do the right things, because that means they are living a falsified life, and that is not good morally and a sign it should be giving to the society.”
The LP candidate then used the example of several great world leaders and innovators who had bad educational backgrounds, no formal education, or even became school dropouts, and went on to achieve great things that changed the world and said, “You don’t necessarily need to have all the degrees in the world to be great, but you need to be honourable about your past so we can know where exactly you are and everything. The world abounds by great people who have poor past and no education, and that formed part of their greatness.”
However, when Obi was asked if he planned to work with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to help with nation building, he said, “We are at a point where we are challenging the process, these are part of what makes a nation. The process through which people come into office or assume or achieve anything is far more fundamental than what they do thereafter. It is important that people come through the right door and not just jump in through the window.
“As far as I am concerned, again, when it comes to issue of working, even opposition is part of building the process of having the proper government. What is important is that we challenge the process through which this government came into being, and that challenge is still there.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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