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Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president, has condemned the nation’s leadership, stating that many serving officials should face incarceration for their previous misconduct and criminal behavior, emphasizing the urgent need for character change in government.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo stressed that officials with dubious reputations are ill-equipped to make impartial decisions benefiting the nation, speaking virtually at Thursday’s memorial lecture for Denis Joseph Slattery in Lagos.
To commemorate the life and achievements of Denis Joseph Slattery, the St. Finbarr’s College Old Boys’ Association presented a memorial lecture at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, attracting a notable audience.
The memorial service for Denis Joseph Slattery drew an impressive lineup of dignitaries, featuring Donald Duke, the former governor of Cross River, alongside notable figures such as Segun Odegbami, the celebrated footballer, ID Cabasa, a leading music producer, and accomplished actor Patrick Doyle.
In his speech titled ‘the imperative for moral rectitude in governance,’ the former President said, the most important demand of anybody involved in governance at any level is “accountability”.
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.”
Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president, recently shared a shocking experience with corruption, highlighting how a government official normalized criminal behavior when confronted. He recalled that when he first entered politics, he was taken aback by the level of corruption among election officials, which was disturbingly viewed as normal
“The first thing that shocked me when I went into politics was the level of corruption of election officials which was taken as normal,” he said.
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“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
The late Denis Joseph Slattery, an Irish-born missionary, embarked on a lifelong journey to Nigeria in 1941, initially settling in Ilawe-Ekiti. Two years later, he was assigned to St. Gregory’s College in Obalende, Lagos, where he served as an educator and sports instructor. His legacy continued to grow with the establishment of St. Finbarr’s College in January 1956.
He was also the pioneer Chairman of the Nigerian Football Association and a founding member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).
