Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that he once rejected a proposal to anoint former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, as his successor when he was leaving office in 2007.
Obasanjo said he turned down the suggestion because he believed El-Rufai, though talented, was not mature enough at the time to lead the country.
Speaking on Friday at the Ajibosin Platform Annual Symposium in Abeokuta, Ogun State, the former president recalled that former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, had recommended El-Rufai for the top job.
El-Rufai served under Obasanjo’s administration between 1999 and 2007 — first as Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises and later as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
Interrupting Chidoka’s keynote address at the event, Obasanjo said, “He didn’t mention that he was pushing for his friend, El-Rufai, to succeed me.”
Turning to Chidoka, he added jokingly, “No be so?”
Chidoka nodded in agreement.
Obasanjo continued:
“I did not yield to the pressure. I told him El-Rufai needed to mature. Years later, after observing his performance, Chidoka came back and said, ‘You were absolutely right — El-Rufai needed to mature.’”
The former president went on to commend both Chidoka and El-Rufai as capable individuals who contributed greatly to his administration’s achievements.
On leadership, Obasanjo stressed that character, exposure, experience, and training are essential qualities for anyone in public service.
“It’s only in politics that I discovered there’s no training for leadership,” he said. “Even among armed robbers, there is apprenticeship. But in politics, there’s none and that’s not good enough.”
Delivering his address, Chidoka argued that Nigeria’s problem is not a shortage of ideas but the failure to build lasting institutions.
“Leadership is measured not by speeches or charisma, but by the systems it leaves behind,” he said.
“Nigeria’s challenge has never been the absence of ideas; it is the absence of systems strong enough to outlive their authors.”
He called for greater accountability and performance tracking, saying leadership must be judged by results, not rhetoric.
