Obasanjo blows hot again! ‘Some people in ‘this government’ should be in jail permanently’

He observed that individuals in positions of government authority with questionable integrity may not be capable of making impartial decisions that benefit the overall welfare of the public. Obasanjo stated this on Thursday at the memorial lecture of Denis Joseph Slattery in Lagos.

The Old Boys’ Association of St. Finbarr’s College hosted the Slattery memorial lecture at the Civic Centre, which is located in Victoria Island.

The commemoration was graced by distinguished individuals, including Donald Duke, the former governor of Cross River, renowned footballer Segun Odegbami, music producer ID Cabasa, and actor Patrick Doyle.

He said, “If you look clinically at the people in government today at both executive and legislative levels, some of them should be permanently behind bars for their past misdemeanour and criminal misconduct.”

“You cannot expect thieves to give good judgement in favour of the owner of the property.”

Obasanjo recalled his shocking experience with corruption, citing how a government official normalised criminal behaviour when confronted.

“The first thing that shocked me when I went into politics was the level of corruption of election officials which was taken as normal.

“The second was the level of general and criminal misbehaviour which was taken with levity and impunity. We were at a meeting and a man lied and I confronted him, and the next thing he said is ‘It is all politics, Sir’.

“Every bad thing they do is passed on as politics which means politics has no room for morality, principles, rectitude, ethics, good character and attributes.

“Nigeria needs transformational leaders rather than transactional leaders, truth instead of lies, honesty instead of dishonesty, integrity instead of disintegrity, hope instead of despair, production instead of deduction, inclusion instead of exclusion and marginalisation”, Obasanjo said.