Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reignited the conversation on corruption in Nigeria, calling for stringent measures against politicians involved in financial misconduct.
Speaking virtually at the memorial lecture of the late Reverend Father Denis Joseph Slattery in Lagos on Thursday, the 87-year-old elder statesman demanded that corrupt public officials be prosecuted, stating that “thieves cannot provide just governance.”
Delivering a speech titled The Imperative for Moral Rectitude in Governance, Obasanjo emphasized that accountability is the most essential quality expected of those in governance at any level.
He argued that those with compromised integrity cannot make decisions that serve the public good.
“If you look clinically at the people in government today at both executive and legislative levels, some of them should be permanently behind bars for their past misdemeanour and criminal misconduct,” said Obasanjo, who served as Nigeria’s head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as president from 1999 to 2007.
He further stressed, “You cannot expect thieves to give good judgement in favour of the owner of the property.”
Drawing from personal experience, the former president recounted his initial shock at the normalization of corruption in Nigeria’s political landscape.
He shared an incident from his early political career where he confronted a government official over dishonest behaviour, only to be met with the response, “It is all politics, Sir.”
This, according to Obasanjo, reflects a troubling culture in which corruption and unethical conduct are dismissed as part of the political game.
“The first thing that shocked me when I went into politics was the level of corruption of election officials which was taken as normal,” Obasanjo recalled.
“The second was the level of general and criminal misbehaviour which was taken with levity and impunity.”
He lamented that politics in Nigeria had become synonymous with dishonesty, devoid of morality and principles.
“Every bad thing they do is passed on as politics, which means politics has no room for morality, principles, rectitude, ethics, good character, and attributes,” he said.
Obasanjo also highlighted the urgent need for transformational leaders in Nigeria—leaders who prioritize integrity, inclusion, and progress over self-interest and dishonesty.
He stated that the country requires “transformational leaders rather than transactional leaders, truth instead of lies, honesty instead of dishonesty, integrity instead of disintegrity, hope instead of despair, production instead of deduction, inclusion instead of exclusion and marginalisation.”
The memorial lecture, organized by the Old Boys’ Association of St. Finbarr’s College, was held at the Civic Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos, to honour Reverend Denis Joseph Slattery, an Irish missionary and educator.
Slattery, who arrived in Nigeria in 1941, was a pivotal figure in the country’s educational and sporting landscape. He founded St. Finbarr’s College in 1956, where he left an indelible mark as a teacher and sports enthusiast.
He also served as the pioneer chairman of the Nigerian Football Association and was one of the founding members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).
In recognition of his contributions, Obasanjo conferred the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) on him in 2001.
Slattery passed away in July 2003, but his legacy continues to resonate through the institutions he helped build and the lives he impacted.
The event attracted notable figures such as former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke, former Nigerian football star Segun Odegbami, music producer ID Cabasa, and actor Patrick Doyle, among others, who gathered to celebrate the life and contributions of Slattery to Nigeria’s educational and social development.
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