Many Nigerian leaders deserve to be in prison – Obasanjo

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday demanded the prosecution of public office holders in Nigeria.

The ex-president spoke when the former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Downstream Petroleum, Ugochukwu Chinyere, led six lawmakers promoting the six-year single-term bill to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

He argued that many public office holders in the country deserve to be in prison for abusing their positions.

Obasanjo lamented that successive governments in the country since 2007 had failed to build on the foundation laid by his administration.

He said: “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.

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“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 decarbonise our brains and mentality.

“Look if you give him 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 six years and not four years and that is if he is not re-elected 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 or one term of four years among others with the same mentality and same way of doing things, nothing will change.”

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