Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has recalled how he sacked his daughter from his farm for coming late to work.
“No leader succeeds without stepping on toes”
According to Obasanjo, the action had an indescribable effect on all his employees.
As reported by Vanguard on Sunday, February 9, while hosting Dayo Israel, the new board chairman of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital, at his residence within the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library complex.
Obasanjo told his visitor Dr. Dayo Israel that effective leadership requires stepping on toes.
He advised Israel to prepare for challenges and be ready to make firm decisions, to succeed in his role.
Recalling how he dismissed his daughter for arriving late to work.
The former president, in a statement released to the press by the hospital’s Head of Public Relations, Dr Segun Orisajo said:
“Shortly after I left office as Head of State, my first daughter, then at University of Ibadan, studying Veterinary Medicine was engaged on my farm to gain some practical experience during long vacation.”
“On day one, she resumed a quarter past seven in the morning as against the usual 7 o’clock. I warned her, reminding her that she has an obligation to be of good example to other workers. I told her I will not hesitate to wield the big stick should the same be repeated going forward.
“To my amazement, the following day, she was late to work again. I did not hesitate to send her back right from the gate.”
“Not surprisingly, this had an indescribable effect on all my employees, saying “if Baba could do this to his daughter, who are we?”
How Obasanjo almost became a drug addict
Meanwhile, earlier reported that Obasanjo shared insights from his time as chairman of the West African Drug Commission under the Kofi Annan Foundation.
He noted the disturbing shift in West Africa’s role from a drug transit hub to a significant consumer region.
Recalling his own near-encounter with smoking as a young man, Obasanjo emphasized how the early temptation to use psychoactive substances could have led to addiction had he not experienced severe coughing, which made him quit.
