Maina saga shouldn’t have occured —OBJ

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBj) has challenged the Federal Government to get serious with its fight against corruption, even as he berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration over the recent reinstatement of former chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina.

Obasanjo stated this in a lecture he delivered on the theme: Corruption and the Challenges of the African Child, at the 14th anniversary of Dorcas Oke Hope Alive Initiative (DOHAL)  held at Emeritus Professor Theophilus Hall, opposite University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, on Saturday.

Expressing indignation over the recent developments within the administration, he maintained that the country could not continue to celebrate criminals, who looted the treasury, and insisted that there should not be sacred cows in the fight against corruption.

According to Obasanjo, the Maina saga currently rocking the President Buhari administration should not have happened as it is not in tandem with fight against corruption.

“Corruption must be punished and those who perpetrate it or cover it up should be seen to be punished. There must not be sacred cows in the fight against corruption. The Maina saga should not have been allowed to occur. It is not in tandem with the fight against corruption,” he stated.

He also noted that corruption was one of the reasons Nigeria was yet to win the war against the Boko Haram sect, saying his research on the instability in the North-East for his theological studies, revealed that one of the reasons members of the extreme Boko Haram sect gave for their onslaught on the people, was that they became disillusioned when they saw how corrupt their educated leaders were.

“I am told that when Muhammad Yusuf, the original leader of Boko Haram and his followers first started, they gathered and tore their certificates because they felt the certificates cannot fetch them the source of value they wanted, and saw western education as corrupting.

“We may not agree with their position, but the disappointment and disillusionment of citizens over the inadequacy or poor performance of their leaders is real. That is why we are witnessing instability and insecurity in the North-East over the years,” he stated.

Speaking further, Obasanjo commended Bishop Francis Wale Oke and his wife, Victoria, for the success DOHAL has recorded in its fight against corruption, poor development and public enlightenment, adding that he saw a great future and hope for the foundation.

The former president, who bagged DOHA’s Ambassador of Hope at the event, also said: “while I am not saying all the evils in the world are perpetrated only by older people, it is important to stress that young people, by the sheer size of their number, their vulnerability and dependence on the decisions of older people, always bear the brunt of bad actions, leadership, policies and bad governance.”

In his remarks, Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Oyo State, Olalekan Ali, noted that African children were the most vulnerable group in the world, as poverty and the accompanying issues of failure and inadequate public health care and education, had contributed to worsen the future of those who should be the hope of the future.

Osinbajo added that the Federal Government’s determined war against corruption was borne out of the realisation that corruption was “a cancer that may be terminal for development and the delivery of social goods, if not checked.”

Chairman on the occasion, Chief Afe Babalola, was awarded DOHAL ambassador, while Osinbajo, Oyo State deputy governor, Chief Moses Alake; Chief Managing Director (CMD) UCH, Professor Temitope Alonge; Professor (Mrs) Bolanle Awe, among others, also bagged Ambassadors of Hope.