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Presidential aspirant and founder of Household of God Church, Oregun, Lagos, Rev Chris Okotie, says getting debt relief is not the main issue confronting Nigeria.
Presidential aspirant and founder of Household of God Church, Oregun, Lagos, Rev Chris Okotie, says getting debt relief is not the main issue confronting Nigeria.
According to the cleric-turned-politician, 'unless we get rid of the type of leadership we have been saddled with these past decades, we shall soon accumulate ever bigger foreign debt."
Okotie says the $18 billion relief granted Nigeria recently by the Paris Club 'is neither here nor there," adding: 'A blind and insensate generation of political jobbers whose only reason for running for public office is to loot the treasury and cause untold hardship for the people must be rejected, if we're to have permanent solution to the debt problem."
Stressing that what Nigerians want is freedom from bad debt, not a relief, the former pop star says when you are relieved, it is usually temporary, 'so we should clamour for a lasting solution from economic mismanagement and corrupt leadership."
Okotie warned that given the profile of those jostling for power in 2007, the country is in danger of falling back into the ditch, 'and that's why I'm offering myself for the Presidency, to once and for all put a stop to the drift and paralysis, and bring active purpose to governance. Nigeria does not need to borrow. In the 70s, we used to lend money to less endowed countries. We prosecuted a costly civil war for 30 months without borrowing, with Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Finance Minister. So, why did we suddenly become poor? The nation was hijacked by a generation of kleptomaniac leaders who grabbed power, and they are still very much around."
The presidential aspirant noted that rather than rejoice over debt relief now, 'I urge Nigerians to open their eyes, and see that those who destroyed our economy and put us in this pathetic bondage are warming up to come back in 2007. That is what we must prevent if this country is ever to get permanent rest, not relief, from debt and failed leadership."