Obasanjo declares,  Jonathan can’t fight corruption
Thursday, 16 June 2011 00:00

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said the current regime in Nigeria lacks the will and consistency to fight corruption because corrupt people are deeply entrenched in the system. Obasanjo, who was speaking yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, did not mention President Goodluck Jonathan by name but said he has not seen the will and consistency required in the present government to tackle graft.

He spoke during a debate organised by the Club de Madrid on ‘Meeting Sustainable Societies and Social Justice’ in the on going 100th Session of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland.

Club de Madrid is an independent, non-profit organization composed of 80 former democratic presidents and prime ministers from 56 countries.

Obasanjo was asked by debate moderator Ritula Shah of the BBC if there was political will to fight corruption in Nigeria.

In answer to that, he said, “I haven’t seen that will of persistency and consistency in Nigeria because the people that are involved in corruption, they are strongly entrenched and unless you are ready to confront them at the point of even giving your life for it, then you will give in and when you give in, that is the end of it.”

Obasanjo went down memory lane, blaming over dependence on oil for the corruption that bedevils Nigeria today.

“We didn’t see beyond the oil. That was one of the misfortunes of Nigeria or regrets of Nigeria but more importantly, corruption came in. Corruption that came in came in initially with politics at independence when our politicians when they give a contract to you, 10 per cent, they thought that is the way to make money for their party.

“Ten per cent of that contract is taken to develop the party, for the party fund and all that and then of course it went beyond 10 per cent to 20, to 25 and at times, it grew so large that in fact, when you are given a job, you will just don’t care to do it, you will share the money or whatever they called it.

“That was very bad. So when I became president of Nigeria the first thing I did after my election was to establish an independent body to fight corruption. Now, that body was so effective, in fact two bodies, one was a commission against financial crimes and they were both so effective that ministers of government, the head of the police and the heads of parastatals were put in jail.

“If you are going to fight corruption, it is not a one night or one day war; you have to be consistent and persistent with it,” he said.

Other panellists in yesterday’s debate were former president of Ecuador Mr. Osvaldo Hurtado, former Ghanaian president John Kufuor, former Yemeni prime minister Mr. Abdul Karim Al Eryani and former prime minister of Netherlands Mr. Wim Kok.

In his contribution, Kufour said the world must produce leaders who must look beyond self interest and are ready to use rule of law and good governance to tackle the issues of social justice.

He added that such leaders must be able to multi-task in the areas of fighting corruption as they simultaneously create jobs and provide social security to their people.

All the panellists agreed on the need for government, employers and workers to sit together and fine-tune the existing processes that lead to the creation of decent jobs.

source

daily trust: http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21220:obasanjo-declares-jonathan-cant-fight-corruption&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

Which corruption? The one he helped grow? Foo lish man.

Maybe Baba wants Badluck to arrest him before he knows if he truly has the political will to fight corruption.

We all know its d plain truth so y are will all shouting!!!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHA, lwkmd, so much for father and son, wunna go see wehn! She una vote fresh air

One BIG umbulerra  
i love dis  

let d drama begin!

Actually, OBJ is right on spot about this issue. I agree with him.

^^ To worsen it, Adoke the highly compromised hachetman has been screened to be the AGF

OBJ has spoken 100% the truth here , although when he says corrupt people are entrenched in the system , he forgot to include himself as well.

It is only Buhari among the 3 top candidates that could have sincerley fought corruption in Nigeria. But what i have come to realise is that the nigerians that want corruption stamped out of the system are in the minority and this is a fact often ignored by many commentators.

Politicans want to develop their party and few will use their personal money to develop the party when they have access to govt cash, they will also go further to amass monstrous war chest to further their political ambitions. Common citizens deman bribe for every single thing in Nigeria and the bulkk of the civil service in Nigeria have corruption in their DNA.

My sister when to Ikoyi registry to get a replacement for her lost certificate and every single person there demanded a bribe in the region of 10 k from her. Every single desk she went to it was the same story which means they all share the money from top to bottom.

Nigerians have the mentality that you must not depend on your salary which means you have to look for ways to steal or extort. It will take a generation for this mentality to vanish and this can only be achieved with a sincer incorruptible leader at the helm of affiars in Nigeria. I personally dont think this kind of leader is electable in Nigeria which means for it to happen he has to acquire the keys to Aso rock through alternative means.

Just my thoughts and i coul dbe wrong.

it is the simple truth - anybody that has issues with what OBJ is living in world of delusion . Although it is a hypocritical statement coming from Obj.

OBJ should step down as chairman board of THIEVES, for this inflammatory statement, PDP at work be careful fresh air!!!

this is the real meaning of tom and jerry, who TOM, IS I DNT KNW, WHO JERRY IS I DNT KNW, but one thing for sure, they are all playing, but there is alwa a true behind the game.
so lets say corruption has come to stay, all of una wey vote this kind fresh air, he "go" beta for una o , 419 go steal una money die

Lagosboy:

OBJ has spoken 100% the truth here , although when he says corrupt people are entrenched in the system , he forgot to include himself as well.

It is only Buhari among the 3 top candidates that could have sincerley fought corruption in Nigeria. But what i have come to realise is that the nigerians that want corruption stamped out of the system are in the minority and this is a fact often ignored by many commentators.

Politicans want to develop their party and few will use their personal money to develop the party when they have access to govt cash, they will also go further to amass monstrous war chest to further their political ambitions. Common citizens deman bribe for every single thing in Nigeria and the bulkk of the civil service in Nigeria have corruption in their DNA.

My sister when to Ikoyi registry to get a replacement for her lost certificate and every single person there demanded a bribe in the region of 10 k from her. Every single desk she went to it was the same story which means they all share the money from top to bottom.
Nigerians have the mentality that you must not depend on your salary which means you have to look for ways to steal or extort. It will take a generation for this mentality to vanish and this can only be achieved with a sincer incorruptible leader at the helm of affiars in Nigeria. I personally dont think this kind of leader is electable in Nigeria which means for it to happen he has to acquire the keys to Aso rock through alternative means.

Just my thoughts and i coul dbe wrong.

YOU MADE MY WEEK!!
YOU MADE MY WEEK!!
YOU MADE MY WEEK!!
YOU MADE MY WEEK!!
YOU MADE MY WEEK!!
YOU MADE MY WEEK!!

Lagosboy:

OBJ has spoken 100% the truth here , although when he says corrupt people are entrenched in the system , he forgot to include himself as well.

It is only Buhari among the 3 top candidates that could have sincerley fought corruption in Nigeria. But what i have come to realise is that the nigerians that want corruption stamped out of the system are in the minority and this is a fact often ignored by many commentators.

Politicans want to develop their party and few will use their personal money to develop the party when they have access to govt cash, they will also go further to amass monstrous war chest to further their political ambitions. Common citizens deman bribe for every single thing in Nigeria and the bulkk of the civil service in Nigeria have corruption in their DNA.

My sister when to Ikoyi registry to get a replacement for her lost certificate and every single person there demanded a bribe in the region of 10 k from her. Every single desk she went to it was the same story which means they all share the money from top to bottom.

Nigerians have the mentality that you must not depend on your salary which means you have to look for ways to steal or extort. It will take a generation for this mentality to vanish and this can only be achieved with a sincer incorruptible leader at the helm of affiars in Nigeria. I personally dont think this kind of leader is electable in Nigeria which means for it to happen he has to acquire the keys to Aso rock through alternative means.

Just my thoughts and i coul dbe wrong.

My brother hope you got my email? I go dey around soon so we go meet up. Your sisters experience exactly mirrors mine when I collected my Nigerian Passport last year. Every single person was on the take at the Passport office - and openly too. A culture of corruption is now in place , perpetuated by one self-serving 'tool' leader after the other , that is now firmly entrenched to the extent that people do not bother to pretend anymore. Corruption is now the norm.

Corruption will not stop overnight but what would have brought a visible difference, and perhaps begun our march in the right direction, would have been the voting out of the PDP at the Presidential level. A vote for a PDP President is a vote for the continuation of bloated governance, profligacy , corruption and lack of political will. Alas , Nigerians have chosen to retain the PDP at the highest level and we can only wait to see what the next 4 years will reveal.

I hope GEJ will prove this wrong during his tenure. I'll be watching.

enyojo:

^^ To worsen it, Adoke the highly compromised hachetman has been screened to be the AGF

We know Adoke was screened but it is impossible to tell what portfolio he will get. Adetokunbo was initially AGF and Justice Minister before becoming Minister of defence until the disbanding of the FEC. Nonetheless , your point is valid. Folks like Adoke have no business in Governance , if GEJ agenda is that of development, going by what we saw from our former AGF in the past . Adoke retaining his old porfolio , as AGF, will be a clear indicator that Jonathan is planning to fail via running another "business as usual" Government that will work for the interests of those who have enslaved Nigeria and Nigerians.

IS Obasanjo for Real!!!!!!!!!!!!

blacksta:

it is the simple truth - anybody that has issues with what OBJ is living in world of delusion .  Although it is a hypocritical statement coming from Obj.

Lagosboy:

OBJ has spoken 100% the truth here , although when he says corrupt people are entrenched in the system , he forgot to include himself as well.

It is only Buhari among the 3 top candidates that could have sincerley fought corruption in Nigeria. But what i have come to realise is that the nigerians that want corruption stamped out of the system are in the minority and this is a fact often ignored by many commentators.

Politicans want to develop their party and few will use their personal money to develop the party when they have access to govt cash, they will also go further to amass monstrous war chest to further their political ambitions. Common citizens deman bribe for every single thing in Nigeria and the bulkk of the civil service in Nigeria have corruption in their DNA.

My sister when to Ikoyi registry to get a replacement for her lost certificate and every single person there demanded a bribe in the region of 10 k from her. Every single desk she went to it was the same story which means they all share the money from top to bottom.

Nigerians have the mentality that you must not depend on your salary which means you have to look for ways to steal or extort. It will take a generation for this mentality to vanish and this can only be achieved with a sincer incorruptible leader at the helm of affiars in Nigeria. I personally dont think this kind of leader is electable in Nigeria which means for it to happen he has to acquire the keys to Aso rock through alternative means.

Just my thoughts and i coul dbe wrong.

Greatest Gbooosa to these two contributions, you guys are well updated. Nigeria is a sick country. The diagnoses proclaimed for now will be an illusion until all the above bolded Characteristics are eliminated and the coloured statement adopted. I love you guys for these honest contributions, I am just unfortunate to be a Nigerian because I am automatically corrupt if only I can come from any other place I have instincts to make me incorruptible. God bless Nigeria. I want more dignified country. I am so sure if I find my way into the Army today; no doubt about it I will stage that thing Western World so detested and tell them enough of DEM ALL CRAZY practices.
House, my message comes with passion, all what I am trying to say is that we need good governance.

Whether any body likes it or not, Obasanjo government put in place institutions to tackle corruption headlong, I do not care if it was selective like some people say, but none of those caught were free, if the next dispensation does same, then gradually the country will be getting rid of corrupt politicians gradually, and most importantly the general fear and awareness would have been created. But what do we have now/a toothless anti-graft agency, where corruption is enshrined, and people like Bankole can laugh when in the custody od E.F.C.C.
I am not here to judge OBJ, as being a saint, but to insist that in his dispensation, there was a will to fight corruption.

OBJ has said nothing new. If anything, I could see lots of hypocrisy and self-praise in his rant. What nonsense. "that's why when I became president, the first thing I did was to set up independent commissions to fight corruption. . . .and they were so effective". Absolute rubbish; I just hate this old fool's hypocritical megalomania. His attack dog (EFCC) that was so selective in hunting down only elements that OBJ had problems with? OBJ's EFCC that overlooked the most corrupt and criminal folks (including Odili, Anenih, Chris Uba, Bode George, etc) because they were in his good books? Was EFCC more effective under OBJ than it was/is under Yar'Adua/GEJ? Rubbish.

Anyways, corruption is so deeply entrenched in Nigeria that it would take more than political will to fight it. It would actually require a brutal, suicidal leader (particularly one that comes to power through a bloody revolution or something similar). Only a blood thirsty but conscientious animal at the helm of affairs can FORCEFULLY set things right - someone in the mould of J.J Rawlings, Chairman Mao, or Fidel Castro.

Corruption in Nigeria is so pervasive that we all are involved in it, directly or indirectly. Almost everybody in this funny country lives beyond their means. You whose father is/was a top military officer, civil servant, judge, or public servant of any kind: how did he afford to send you abroad to study? How did he manage to build those houses? How did he fund the upper middle class lifestyle your family enoys. . .all on the meagre salaries and allowances he legally earns/earned? The same principles apply to bankers, lawyers, accountants, company executives, and other private sector people. You would see a so-called bank manager that owns a huge house in VGC (worth over N150m), fleets of cars, has about three children in universities in the UK or USA, and yet maintains the regular expenses associated with a comfortable lifestyle for himself and his family: how the hell can he afford all that on his N1m/month (or less) salary? We need to tell ourselves the home truth: 90% of us are direct partakers or beneficiaries of corruption one way or the other in this country. Politicians are not the only ones involved. There is dire need for blood to flow freely and for people to explain the source of their every kobo in order for sanity to return to this bleeped up country. Only a bloody revolution - led by suicidal but conscientious elements - can make that possible. Other than that, we're all deluding ourselves.

Talk talk talk and more talk plus ethnic and religious bashin! Is that all we will be doing? And online I might add, if we can't stand up to thiss fooooooo*ls then we are no better than they are. Gej is already a failure bamanga pdp chair, mark senate pres and now adoke and so many thieves will be coming back. Is this the change this guy promised? Where are all his supporters? Fresh air my aa*s!

He is right, even though he is corrupt as well.
He stil tried, compare to the likes of Yaradua. who use Aaondoaka (Dont know if l get the spellin right)
to shield Ibori and others from Prosecution.
Or Jonathan that do nothing than "l have no shoes. am just like u"

@ Enyojo,Lionness, Lagosboy, Blacksta, Gbawe, Pro01, Divideus

My fellow like minds. What is the way forward? To be honest with you, if you are living and working in Nigeria and you have not for once involved in corrupt practices, you are not a true born Nigerian. Our involvement sometimes come from the dictate of the society in which we live. many in Nigeria possess that inner value (instinct) to be incorruptible but does the society at large believe in their beliefs? Every institution in the country has been stigmatised with corruption even religion institutions are not left out. Please tell us, the steps to take to have this stigma extinguished from our system.

Right now that gej has been impugned by this sociopath, what behoves him is to commence with the incarceration of the likes of tinubu, iyabo, ohakim, ogd, akala, et al. And obj should be garrotted with immediate effect, cos it's incongruent to apply bureaucracies in the man's trial. Buhari should be tried as regards his venal and nefarious acts during his military dictatorship. If he(gej) feels incapacitated in handling those yoruba dudes esp. Obj, he should consult the phantom of Abacha. That's my own cup of tea.

This old phuck shud STFU

Thank God, I didn't vote for PDP

Concept:

@ Enyojo,Lionness, Lagosboy, Blacksta, Gbawe, Pro01, Divideus

My fellow like minds. What is the way forward? To be honest with you, if you are living and working in Nigeria and you have not for once involved in corrupt practices, you are not a true born Nigerian. Our involvement sometimes come from the dictate of the society in which we live. many in Nigeria possess that inner value (instinct) to be incorruptible but does the society at large believe in their beliefs? Every institution in the country has been stigmatised with corruption even religion institutions are not left out. Please tell us, the steps to take to have this stigma extinguished from our system.

those things emanate from lack of patriotism on the side of the citizens. If we had that patriotic instinct, there's no way a teacher will delude a student into indulging in illicit acts during his exam,thereby, negating the usefulness of that student in the milieu. Or how can patriotic policeman imperil the lives of the citizens at his mercy, just because worthless dosh? These are things we need to address in the society. Again, the parents have abandoned the role of inculcating ethics in their children, that why we have children who are bereft of manners roaming around the street, always gullible to any despicable act. Christian mothers proudly abort their children of any unwanted child, just to save themselves public reproach and vituperation. I THANK GOD FOR MY PARENTS.

Why wont this old bastards just die and let in a new generation of leaders. These old farts r the people killing naija!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the beginning of our freedom is here. OBJ has lost grip. Jonathan is now standing firm in his decisions and Nigeria is better for it. God bless Nigeria – God bless our President.

Obj, you spoke well and I respect your honesty even though you would have responded to the same question if asked by Nigerian journalists with 'I de laugh'