Most Nigerians seek public offices to enrich themselves and their cronies – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticized many Nigerian public officeholders, accusing them of seeking positions primarily to enrich themselves and their associates while leaving the country in a worse state.

In his newly released book, Nigeria: Past and Future, Obasanjo highlighted how politicians secure billions in loans with the mindset that repaying them using public funds after election poses no challenge.

The book, unveiled as part of celebrations for his 88th birthday, offers a critical assessment of leadership at both federal and state levels. He described many past and present leaders— including governors, presidents, ministers, commissioners, and local government chairpersons— as ill-prepared, self-serving, and corrupt, contributing to the nation’s ongoing poverty and underdevelopment.

He said, “How do you explain the situation of a chief executive, a governor, whose business was owing the banks billions of naira and millions of dollars before becoming a governor and within two years of becoming governor, without his company doing any business, he paid all that his businesses owed the banks. 

“You are left to guess where the money came from. Having got away with that in the first term, he consigned to himself almost half of the state resources in the second term. He was a typical example of the goings-on at that level almost universally in the country with only a few exceptions. 

“State resources are captured and appropriated to themselves with a pittance to staff and associates to close the mouths of those that could blow the whistle or raise alarm against them while in office and when they are out of office.’’ 

He further said, “The ones that are criminally ridiculous are the chief executives that deceive, lie and try to cover up on the realities and truth of action and inaction on contract awards, agreements, treaties, borrowings and forward sales of national assets. Such chief executives are unfit for the job they find themselves in.”