Obasanjo and Babangida Made Corruption Attractive to Governors - Braithwaite

 

An Elder statesman, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, has attacked former president and military ruler, Olusegun Obasanjo for getting rich through corruption and making it attractive to state governors in the country who now rule as emperors. He also lambasted former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida for the unpatriotic roles they played in pushing Nigeria into this economic quagmire.

 

Braithwaite said the former helmsmen’s policies and actions elevated corruption in governance, adding that many state governors were merely emulating them.

 

According to Punch, the human rights activist disclosed this during a telephone interview. Braithwaite was reacting to a statement credited to Obasanjo in which the former president slammed state governors for living like emperors while the masses suffer.

 

Braithwaite said, “Obasanjo is not saying anything original because when he assumed office in 1999, I warned that the military constitution would make the governors emperors. Governors determine security votes which they do not account for. Since 1999, the military constitution clothes them (governors and president) with immunity against being arrested for criminal misdeeds. Many of them brazenly looted the treasury and got away with it. Obasanjo became rich through this structure.

 

Also speaking on the recent terrorist attacks, Braithwaite said the Federal Government’s declaration that Boko Haram had been technically defeated was premature, adding that such an assumption was wrong.