He said this in his remarks at a display of forty African traditional drums in his honour by the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) under the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, to mark his 80th birthday, on March 5.
Obasanjo who recalled the fortunes of the party between 1999 to 2007, when it controlled 30 of the 36 states in the country, however noted that the party mismanaged the fortune.
He ascribed the dwindling fortune to the exit of prominent members of the party, including its former national chairman, Senator Ahmadu Ali and himself.
He recalled how he invited Ali to be the chairman of the party and the great works that he did in making the party the biggest in Africa, and occupying an enviable heights among other political parties.
He described Ali as a truthful and hardworking personality.
“Ali is a man of truth and hardwork. He is so good that I looked for him to cone and chairman PDP. He chaired the party when its controls 30 out of the 36 States.
“When he left and I left the fortune of the party went down the drains and it is sunk. May the fortune of Nigeria never sink,” he said.
Earlier, in his closing remarks during 2017 International Symposium tagged “Purpose and Utilitarian Values of Presidential Libraries”, encouraged the nation’s youth not to relent in striving towards, no matter their background.
He described the library as an opportunity given to him by God to correct his past mistakes of not documenting some materials.
Obasanjo expressed optimism that the library would stimulate tourism in Nigeria and also promote the image of the nation on the world’s stage.
The former Ambassador of the United States of America (US) to the United Nations (UN), Mr Andrew Young, described Nigeria as a nation destined to be great.
He noted that most Nigerians living abroad are intelligent and brilliant people, adding that the country had produced great minds who have done great things and who are respected all over the world.
Young likened the country’s destiny to the children of Isrealites in the Bible who were subjected to hardship, despite God’s promise that the nation would be great.
“I have seen Nigerians abroad.”
“They are brilliant, intelligent and hardworking and respectable.”
“The slavery of Nigeria is corruption, laziness, selfishness and refusal to realise that she is a nation destined to be great,” he said.
and then