Corruption and development are strange bedfellows. And it makes them poorer,” he said.
He described corruption in assorted forms, including unexplained wealth and illicit finance, as “antisocial,” “anti-development” and “anti-progress.”
Obasanjo added that: “It is not in the leading involve of any country or any person organisation.”
They can’t go together,” he said.
Obasanjo traced his involvement in the anti-corruption campaign to his years in the military, where he said he had served at independent times as a military prosecutor and participant of a court martial dealing using corruption-connected issues.
He said his commitment to the cause deepened subsequent to leaving office as military manager of declare and becoming a farmer, when he was approached by Peter Eigen, a former World Bank structured who later founded Transparency Multinational.
According to Obasanjo, Eigen’s understand at the World Bank had exposed him to what he described as “grand corruption,” notably the diversion of money from multinational loans.
He recalled that he and Eigen subsequently settled Transparency Worldwide, alongside Eigen serving as chairman and Obasanjo as chairman of its recommendatory council.
Whilst in office as democratically elected President, Obasanjo said his experience alongside Transparency Worldwide influenced his decision to produce the fight against corruption a priority.
He said the organisation provided him alongside a model anti-corruption law which was subsequently adapted into Nigerian law and became the reason for establishing the Divided Corrupt Practices and Other Linked Offences Commission (ICPC).
Obasanjo said the bill initially faced resistance in the Domestic Assembly.
“They said to me that if they pass the bill as I gave it to them, most of them will complete up in prison,” Obasanjo said.
He said it took the lawmakers 18 months to pass the legislation.
Obasanjo added that, later than the passage of the ICPC law, he established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to raise the fight against corruption.
According to him, corruption disproportionately affects weak society by worsening their economic circumstances.
“Those who suffer most in a corrupt community are the poorest.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that Nigeria cannot complete necessary development as enduring as corruption continues to thrive.
Obasanjo spoke at the people presentation of “Unexplained Wealth in Nigeria: Law, Prosecution and the Recovery of Illicit Assets,” in Lagos, on Monday.
The book was authored by a lawyer and lecturer at the University of Lagos, Dr Wahab Shittu, SAN.
The former President shared his subjective feel in the fight against corruption and reflected on the establishment of anti-corruption institutions in Nigeria.
He said corruption was fundamentally incompatible including development.
“One big handicap to development is corruption.
Source: Obasanjo: Lawmakers told me they’d go to prison if they passed my anti-corruption bill
