Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticized the integrity of Nigeria’s current leaders, asserting that many of those in public office deserve to be in jail.
Obasanjo made these remarks on Friday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while hosting six members of the House of Representatives who are co-sponsoring a bill advocating for a single six-year presidential term and rotational leadership between the North and South.
The delegation, led by Ugo Chinyere, a former chairman of the House Committee on Downstream Petroleum, visited Obasanjo at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
“So, the very beginning is ourselves, yes system, yes we have to rethink our democracy but the character of people in government must change. With all due respect, most of those in government should right now be behind bars or in gallows,” he said.
To the former President, succeeding governments had also not built on the foundation he laid while he was in power.
“The issue for me if we get it right whether we have a single term of six years or two terms of four years is that we must decarbonize our brains and mentality.
“Look if you give him a period of a single term of six years, he can go ahead and still do the evil he would have done in a case of two terms of four years. The only difference is that he would have done that within the period of six years and not four years and that is if he is not reelected for another four years.
“To me, this is not our problem. Our main problem is ourselves and until we take care of ourselves, if we like let us adopt a single term of six years, one term of four years among others with the same mentality and same way of doing things, nothing will change,” Obasanjo stated.
