Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that he once turned down a proposal suggesting that former FCT Minister, Nasir El-Rufai, should succeed him as president in 2007. Obasanjo said he rejected the idea because he believed El-Rufai was not yet mature enough to handle the challenges of leading a complex nation like Nigeria.
The former president made this known on Friday during the second edition of the Ajibosin Platform Annual Symposium held in Abeokuta, Ogun State. His comment came while responding to a speech by former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, who had recalled how El-Rufai introduced him to Obasanjo when he was just 34 a meeting that led to his appointment as Corps Marshal of the FRSC.
Interrupting Chidoka’s speech, Obasanjo said with a smile, “He didn’t tell you that when I was leaving office, he wanted his friend, El-Rufai, to be my successor.” Turning to Chidoka, he jokingly asked, “No be so?” The former aviation minister nodded in agreement. Obasanjo added that he refused the suggestion because El-Rufai needed more time to grow in leadership, a point Chidoka later agreed with years afterward.
Obasanjo went on to praise both men and other members of his former team, describing them as talented individuals who played key roles in his administration from 1999 to 2007. He also used the opportunity to emphasize the need for proper leadership training, saying, “It’s only in politics that I found there’s no training for leadership. Even armed robbers have apprenticeship, but in politics, we don’t prepare people and that’s not good enough.”
In his keynote address, Chidoka stressed that Nigeria’s major problem is not the lack of ideas, but the failure to build systems that ensure accountability and continuity. He said true leadership is measured by the institutions it leaves behind, not just charisma or speeches. The event, attended by political leaders and scholars, focused on the theme: “Leadership, Governance, and Institutional Renewal in Nigeria.”