Leaders not doing enough on graft, insecurity, says Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo Thursday in Benin-City, stressed that enough was not being done on the fight against graft and insecurity in the country by those in charge.

Obasanjo stated this Thursday in the Government House shortly after a courtesy call on Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

He was in Benin City to deliver the first memorial lecture in honour of the late chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr. Abel Guobadia, organised by the Women's Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC).

On the issues of corruption and security, he said: 'How many times are you going to flog this horse, I have flogged the horse of corruption, I have flogged it internally, externally, I flogged it every day, some people go along with me, they agree that it is a problem that we have to face it squarely, some people abused me, some people did all sorts of things but the point is that when you have a problem and you attempt to cover it, you are not solving the problem, if anything you are complicating the problem.

'Even security, I have talked about it, I have been called names I have gone out on fact-finding moves, I have found out what is there and what is not there, I have talked, I have reported, I have nothing more to hide.'

Obasanjo also said the indigenisation policy under the military administration did not work and that necessitated his ambitious drive for privatisation and market driven economy as President in 1999 just as he commended Oshiomhole on his efforts to develop the state.

He described Oshiomhole as one who had developed from radicalism to realism, adding: 'I now see a governor who once lived a life of radicalism but he is now living a life of realism but we all do that. I was Head of State and I believed that there was no way to manage the Nigerian economy except by indigenisation and we went out for indigenisation but the truth is that indigenisation did not succeed the way I wanted it to succeed so when I had the second opportunity, when God gave me the second chance, I learnt from my past and I became an apostle of genuine private sector, direct foreign investment, free market economy.'