Osoba says Obasanjo caused Nigerian leadership problem

Former governor of Ogun state, Olusegun Osoba has said ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was responsible the problems of leadership bedevilling the country.

Osoba spoke at a colloquium to celebrate the 70th birthday of Ray Ekpu, a renowned journalist and activist, where he accused the former president of rigging out governors of the Alliance for Democracy in 2003.

Speaking on the topic ‘Nigeria: The Leadership Question’, Osoba said: “In 1999, I tell you, the level of governors who were elected then through open ballot system held Obasanjo, if we didn’t hold him he would have gone haywire from 1999.

“We AD were the firebrand. I’m sorry, people say I keep talking about Obasanjo, the day Obasanjo rigged the AD governors out of council of state was the beginning of the downward trend of leadership in this country.”

Osoba said he is proud that the governors of his time are not being probed by the anti-graft agencies.

He said: “I am proud and when they talk about people doing their civic responsibility, I still pay my tax even the money I earn in dollars I pay tax to Ogun and Lagos states in dollars. I am proud to say that none of us is before ICPC or EFCC, the governors of our time.”

He also said there is an urgent need for amendments of the country’s electoral act.

“I have hope that the 2019 election will not be conducted the same way,” he said.

“In that amendment, they are putting there that electronic system must be used in all the elections. They did not say card reader, but electronic system and that is important.

“Any INEC official who conducts election and did not transmit result immediately by electronic system will go to jail for five years and that’s the beginning of controlling our elections.”