Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned Nigerian leaders against failing to carry out the assignment for which they were elected.
The former leader said failing to fulfil the leadership mandate is a sin to God and against the people they were elected to serve.
Obasanjo further warned leaders against assuming they could get away with the consequences of their failures. He urged them to do right by acknowledging when they fail and also make amends.
“If you are a leader, you are put here by God and by people to do what is right. And your failure to do what is right is a sin against God and against the people that we are supposed to be looking after,” Obasanjo said.
“Don’t think that you will do it and get away. If you fail where you should not fail and you do not make adjustment or action, you will pay for it,” Obasanjo said in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while delivering a keynote address at the Leadership Empowerment International Conference (LEIC) Nigeria 2026 over the weekend.
CityNews understands that the conference, organised by the Perspectives Leadership Development Institute in collaboration with the Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute, was held under the theme, “The Gravity of Leadership Failure & Correction Methodologies.”
The former President maintained that leadership remained a crucial factor determining the success or failure of any human organisation, whether a family, business, state or nation.
“If anybody asks me what is the most important factor, what is the most important issue, what is the most important element that makes the difference between success and failure in any human organisation, the answer is leadership,” Obasanjo said.
Clarifying his claims, the former President noted that two organisations may have similar resources and structures but achieve different results because of differences in leadership.
“You will find two institutions or two organisations that are very similar and one is doing well, the other is not doing too well. The difference is in leadership,” he said.
“A nation, leadership failure will mean that the nation is not making progress as it should. A family, the leadership failure in the family means that the family is not making progress as it should. Any human institution, any human organisation, leadership failure means great calamity.”
He stressed the need for leaders to admit when they have failed and as well apologise where necessary, show remorse and take concrete steps to correct their failures.
“As long as you are active as a leader, you are likely to do things wrong. But what is very, very important is to make sure that when you do wrong, you appreciate that you have done wrong. And then you atone and make corrections,” he said.
He added, “When we make mistakes as leaders or as even human beings, the first thing we have to do is acknowledge that we have made mistakes and have gone wrong. And then go back to make corrections.”
“Where you fail, it means that you have disappointed human beings and you have also disappointed God. Where you fail, you have disappointed human beings and you have also disappointed God.”
Obasanjo stressed that Nigerian leaders must not assume leadership position if they know very well they cannot fulfil their obligations. He rejected attempts by leaders to justify poor performance by blaming longstanding problems.
“If you cannot carry out the responsibility of leadership, then don’t accept. If you accept, then do it as it should be done.”
“If I say that, yes, since I was born, Nigeria has been poor. If I am put in a position not to make Nigeria poor and all I can say is that since I was born, Nigeria has been poor, I wonder what I am saying to Nigerians,” he said.
