Once again, former president Olusegun Obasanjo has accused President Goodluck Jonathan's administration of promoting corruption and incompetence in the country.
Obasanjo said the government's open display of corruption constitutes a threat to the economy.
Obasanjo spoke yesterday at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja during the public presentation of two books: "The Story of my two Worlds: Challenges, Experiences" (an autobiography of a former President of the Court of Appeal and pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi) and "A Life of Service and Grace: Shared Perspectives" (a collection of essays by scholars).
The former president also accused the Jonathan administration and members of the seventh National Assembly of promoting corruption and poor governance in the country. He specifically accused the lawmakers of siphoning public funds through what they call 'constituency projects'.
"Nigeria cannot continue to indulge in disdain of truth, elevation of corruption and incompetence, reinforcement of failure, condoning of heinous crimes and celebration of mediocrity, tribal bigotry, fomenting violence and anti-democratic practices in the states and National Assembly.
"Like prostitution, corruption is almost as old as man on the surface of the earth. It is needless to say that, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, the combined and complementary efforts of ICPC and EFCC made Nigerians and non-Nigerians know that corruption can be put on check and put to flight. When I came out of prison and I was persuaded to run as president, corruption was one of the priority items I chose to confront.
"Corruption in the National Assembly also includes what they call constituency projects which they give to their agents to execute, but invariably, full payment is made with little, or no job done. In all these, if the Executive is absolutely above board, the offending members of the National Assembly resort to subtle or open threat, intimidation and blackmail of the executive.
"For quite some time, the covered and hushed up corruption has had its toll on the economy. The non-investment in the oil and gas sector by major international oil companies has added its own deleterious impact. Our continued heavy dependence on one commodity had not adequately prepared us against any shock in that one commodity in the international plane," he added.
Speaking on the raging insurgency in the North-East, Obasanjo said: "Boko Haram is not simply a menace based on religion or one directed to frustrate anybody's political ambition; it is essentially a socio-economic problem that is tainted with religion. It is a gargantuan danger to the nation and to all Nigerians. Initially, President Jonathan's understanding of Boko Haram phenomenon suffered from wrong reading and wrong imputation. That is what led us to where we are today."
There was however a mild drama when the Oba of Lagos and chief launcher at the occasion, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, accused Obasanjo of having failed to do what he is now preaching to others.
According to Akiolu, before Obasanjo's inauguration as president in 1999, he had promised to ensure transparency in the Nigerian oil sector but later reneged on his promise as the oil sector was besieged by "quantum corruption."
"Obasanjo failed to address the problems with the number of crude oil per barrel produced daily, how many barrels are exported for sale as well as the use of the proceeds," Akiolu said.
LEADERSHIP recalls that for most of Obasanjo's eight-year tenure, his office superintended over the petroleum ministry.
But Obasanjo later fired back at the Lagos monarch, saying it was during his tenure that allocations to states became transparent with the publication of monthly revenues to the three tiers of government.
For his part, Justice Akanbi recalled that although there were allegations of witch-hunting against the ICPC when he was at the helm of affairs, there was never a time Obasanjo interfered with his job.
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