Ex-Minister defends Obasanjo against allegations of corruption [VIDEO]

monjola sotubo

May 4, 2015 4:59 PM

Mrs Ezekwesili, who served during Obasanjo’s regime, made the statement during an interview on Al Jazeera on Friday, May 1, 2015.

Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili has said that the regime of ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo was not as corrupt as that of late dictator, Sani Abacha.

Mrs Ezekwesili, who served during Obasanjo’s regime, made the statement during an interview on Al Jazeera on Friday, May 1, 2015.

She also said that there was no evidence of corruption in the former President’s regime despite reports to the contrary.

“There was no way it could have been more corrupt that the government of Abacha. I am sorry,” she said speaking of Obasanjo’s regime.

When asked about a Wikileaks report which quoted former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu as saying that everyone was a thief in Obasanjo’s government, Mrs Ezekwesili said:

“The next person you should invite to your show should be Nuhu Ribadu. Its not about rejecting his views. I don't have counter-factory evidence on the basis to reject it”

When asked about her opinion on how corrupt Obasanjo was, she said:

“Is that supposed to be a question on the basis of some factual thing that you are putting before me? My sense of President Obasanjo was that he gave me the freedom to define the work that I did that public procurement was more transparent than it used to be.”

Mrs Ezekwesili is a co-founder of Transparency International and was recently named among TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world due to her campaign for the rescue of the over 200 Chibok girls who were abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014.

monjola sotubo