Former governor of Lagos State Akinwunmi Ambode has said that although he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth he was opportuned to lead Lagos.
Ambode spoke at the Akinjide Adeosun Foundation (AAF)’s 2024 leadership colloquium and award: chapter 8 themed: “ Economic Asphyxiation – The wisdom of Authentic Leaders” which was held at Alliance Francaise, Ikoyi, on Monday.
He said he realised that his background was a reflection of his character and values.
The ex-governor noted that he knew how the ordinary resident feels and this empathy reflected in many of the decisions taken while in office.
“I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I recognise the fact that I was just opportuned to be a leader and I am actually part of them,” he said.
Ambode said that authentic leaders should encourage the people, get their sympathy and provide them hope that “whatever they were going through would go away.”
“My sense of empathy brings a bigger sympathy from followership,” he said.
Ambode said that Nigeria’s problems had a long history and needed a courageous president like President Bola Tinubu to fix them frontally.
“It (challenges) has nothing to do with the singular person called Mr President; but if we don’t understand the fundamental, we will start doing the blame games. We need to face our problems frontally.
“The major issue is that we are even tired of not fixing our issues. Now that we have found somebody that has decided in person of President Tinubu,” he said.
The former governor noted that there was need to make executive reforms on the coordination circle around the president.
Ambode urged Nigerians to stop blame games but be supportive, resilient and patriotic about the country.
The late Pastor Taiwo Odukoya received the 2024 AAF Award for helping to provide hope for the lost when he was alive.
His daughter Toluwani Odukoya-Ijogun received the price in honour of Odukoya.
