Pat Utomi leads campaign to have many Nigerian leaders jailed

According to Dailypost Former presidential candidate and renowned economist, Professor Pat Utomi, has dismissed most of those occupying leadership positions in Nigeria as worthy of being in jail, noting that “I’m carrying an international campaign to make sure many of them (the leaders) end up in jail in The Hague.” He called on youths to use the technology at their disposal to network and create a new nation instead of complaining on the side of the street.

The erudite academic, who disclosed this in an interview with Saturday Sun, wondered why Nigerians will collect 200 naira or 1000 naira to deliberately cast their ballot for somebody every normal thinking person knows would damage their future. He identified the attitude as what discourages him from fighting for the impoverished masses of the country.

Expressing lack of confidence in those who have so far indicated interest to run for president in next year’s poll, the former presidential candidate said, “If we continue to vote for people who don’t have knowledge and care about the people, then Nigeria’s progress would continue to be short changed. If the nation continues to be short-changed, it won’t be long before we become Somalia.

“If we want to move away from Somalia, we must start asking ourselves who are the people offering themselves for public office? How much sacrifice have we seen in the history of their lives for the good of other people? How much knowledge do they have about how a modern state runs? So, the tragedy of now is that Nigeria still continues like an experiment in the hands of political jobbers, thugs and other people that can bully others to corner power. If we want to stop this path, we can,” he noted.

Utomi, while condemning the situation where, “any armed robber that presents 10 million naira, gets ticket to become a governor,” stressed that leaders of the political party should identify credible persons who they want to project for elective positions and bring them into their party to vie for elective positions on their platforms, instead of having people offer themselves for elections.

Speaking on the falling price of crude oil and its implication on the nation’s economy, the cerebral economist faulted President Jonathan for not being able to curb the financial wastage in his administration, saying, “We must stop waste in government. The wastage is just too much. We just spent 19 billion naira organising a national conference. What for? If I get 19 billion naira, I will ensure that every child that goes to school in Nigeria has a free meal, and that would bring more kids to school.”