Most Nigerians seek public offices to enrich themselves and their cronies – Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that most Nigerians are interested in public offices only to enrich themselves and their cronies and then leave the country worse than they met it.
The former President said these people obtain billions of naira in loans, believing that paying back from public funds after being elected won’t be a problem.
Obasanjo disclosed this in his new book, ‘Nigeria: Past and Future’ where he painted the characters of chief executives at both the federal and state levels.
The book was one of two new books unveiled to mark Obasanjo’s 88th birthday last week.
The former President said the majority of those who have been opportuned to hold leadership positions in the country such as governors, presidents, ministers, commissioners and local government chairpersons, were ill-prepared, satanic, self-centred and were all out to corruptly enrich themselves while the nation continues to wallow in abject poverty and condemnable underdevelopment.
He said, “How do you explain the situation of a chief executive, a governor, whose business was owing the banks billions of naira and millions of dollars before becoming a governor and within two years of becoming governor, without his company doing any business, he paid all that his businesses owed the banks.
“You are left to guess where the money came from. Having got away with that in the first term, he consigned to himself almost half of the state resources in the second term. He was a typical example of the goings-on at that level almost universally in the country with only a few exceptions.
“State resources are captured and appropriated to themselves with a pittance to staff and associates to close the mouths of those that could blow the whistle or raise alarm against them while in office and when they are out of office.’’
He further said, “The ones that are criminally ridiculous are the chief executives that deceive, lie and try to cover up on the realities and truth of action and inaction on contract awards, agreements, treaties, borrowings and forward sales of national assets. Such chief executives are unfit for the job they find themselves in.”
