The Olugbon of Orile-Igbon in Oyo State, Oba Francis Alao, has told former President Olusegun Obasanjo to stop parading himself as a saint.
Alao made the statement days after Obasanjo said that most Nigerian political leaders should be behind bars.
Obasanjo spoke in Abeokuta on Friday, August 9, when he received six members of the House of Representatives, who are co-sponsors of bills proposing a single six-year term, rotation of the Presidency between the North and South, and rotation of governorship slots among the three senatorial districts of each of the 36 states.
The former president said: “Our main problem is ourselves. Whether we adopt a single term of six years or two terms of four years, if we maintain the same mentality and approach, nothing will change.
“The real issue is ourselves. Yes, the system needs rethinking, but the character of people in government must change. With all due respect, many in government should currently be behind bars or on the gallows.”
Reacting, Alao said on Monday, August 12, though he aligned with Obasanjo’s position, the former President should lead by example “by submitting himself for incarceration as a leader of this generation of the so-called corrupt people. There is no way he can exclude himself.”
Oba Alao claimed that during Obasanjo’s tenure as President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, the administration spent billions of United States dollars to fix the country’s power supply challenges, “yet there is nothing to show for it.”
“So, excluding himself from those he described as corrupt leaders is nothing but grandstanding since Chief Obasanjo cannot wash his hands clean of all activities that brought Nigeria to this undesirable state. Doing so will amount to a pot calling the kettle black.
“Chief Obasanjo should stop parading himself all over the world as a saint when he is one of the leaders that steered the ship of Nigeria from 1976 to date. He is inclusive of the 90 per cent of Nigerian leaders that should be in prison for corruption.
“Let him go and surrender himself before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as an example. Nigerians should be watchful of Chief Obasanjo.”
Alao also said in Obasanjo’s eight-year tenure, “he failed to reconstruct Lagos-Abeokuta and Lagos-Ibadan roads, leaving them as death traps for motorists.”