FORMER President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that the fight against corruption must start with the people at the top and not from the lowest hierarchy.
He said that the battle against corruption could only be effective if it begins with accountability among top government officials.
He stated this on Sunday night while featuring on a radio programme tagged ‘Boiling Point’, in Abeokuta, which focuses on his legacies as Nigeria’s President and assessment of government of today.
“Corruption is hydra-headed and eats deep. I think it was the Sultan of Sokoto, the father of the present Sultan, who said corruption is like a babanriga; if you are folding it on one side, it’s falling apart on the other side. When you carry it on both sides, you cannot hold your hands up and as soon as you put your hands down, it’s falling apart. And that’s corruption.
“It’s not a one-day affair. It’s not a one-regime affair. It’s not even a two-regime affair. It has to be consistent. It has to be continuous. It has to be a daily affair. Once one regime is let off, it spreads,” he said.
He called for a change in the recruitment and appointment of leaders into public offices, insisting that political appointments must be made on merit rather than political or tribal basis.
He also posited that any leader made by Satan and not God is bound to fail, saying he disagrees with the notion that all leaders are made by God.
“I will say most leaders are prepared by God and they are put in place by God and when that happens the chances of success are higher than when you make yourself a leader, which may not be the act of God.
“And again, people saying all leaders are made by God, I don’t accept that. A leader can also be made by Satan. In the case of Job, you can remember Satan was going up and down and went before God, and God was commending Job, but Satan said Job was upright to God because he had gotten from God.
“We must accept that Satan is real and he has power; he has no salvation, but he has power, and the power of Satan must not be underrated.”
Credit: Nigerian Tribune