The Olugbon of Orile Igbon, Oba Francis Oloshola Alao has responded to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent comments on corruption among Nigerian political leaders.
The former president had on Friday declared that “most Nigerian political leaders in this dispensation are clearly corrupt and should be behind bars.”
Obasanjo
While receiving some members of the House of Representatives Chief Obasanjo maintained that “Our main problem is ourselves and until we take care of ourselves, we may have one term of four years, one term of six years, one term of seven years, if it’s the same people and same mentality and way we do things, then it won’t change.
Reacting to the statement, Olugbon who is also the Vice Chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs,
argued that Obasanjo cannot exclude himself from the group of corrupt leaders he described.
“I align with the elder statesman’s position but he should also lead by example by submitting himself for incarceration as a leader of this generation of the so-called corrupt people. There is no way he can exclude himself,” Olugbon stated.
“Chief Obasanjo should stop parading himself all over the world as a saint when he is one of the leaders that steered the ship of Nigeria since 1976 till date. He is inclusive of the 90 per cent of Nigerian leaders that should be in prison for corruption.”
The traditional ruler pointed to several instances during Obasanjo’s presidency from 1999 to 2007, where his administration spent billions of dollars on fixing the country’s power supply with little to show for it. Olugbon also referenced the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, which he claimed was “largely funded with proceeds of corruption.”
Olugbon accused Obasanjo of “grandstanding” and described his attempt to distance himself from the corrupt leaders he condemned as a “pot calling kettle black.”
The traditional ruler challenged the former president to “go and surrender himself before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as an example” to Nigerians.
Furthermore, Olugbon criticized Obasanjo’s tenure for failing to reconstruct critical infrastructure like the Lagos-Abeokuta and Lagos-Ibadan roads, which he said had become “death traps for motorists.” The traditional ruler praised Obasanjo’s successors, former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, for eventually fixing the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Olugbon also accused Obasanjo of exhibiting a “deficit in Yoruba culture” in his handling of certain issues, urging the former president to “go and re-learn culture and stop teaching us what to do in Nigeria.”
