[size=14pt]Obasanjo Preaches Impunity (Don't Try Ex-Leaders, He Says!)[/size]

Vanguard Editorial, May 9, 2011


FOUR years after he failed to perpetuate himself in office, Olusegun Obasanjo is explaining why African leaders are reluctant to leave office. He should know, considering that he did everything not to leave, until Nigerians shut the door on him.

What did he learn? Apparently nothing. The excuses he is making for sit tight leaders say a lot about Obasanjo and his self-serving agenda.
He wants Africans to forgive their leaders, guarantee they will not be prosecuted after leaving office, so that they in turn will become law-abiding.
Why should leaders who have become criminals be awarded an amnesty? Will that be good reason for them to be more reckless while in office? Obasanjo used his immunity to do whatever he wanted while he was in office for eight years. He wanted to use the same immunity to extend his stay in office until Nigerians refused.

His suggestion of an amnesty for African leaders will also make him a beneficiary outside the fact that the abuses of the amnesty will recreate the problems that we want to avoid by asking these leaders to obey the law. Is that too much?

Obasanjo’s proposal made at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, is at best insulting to Africans and shows their leaders are not responsible enough to obey the law.

“Unless it is absolutely necessary, I believe that any African leader, whatever mistakes he made while in office, unless it is a heinous crime, when he gets out of office should be left alone to vegetate and retire to his village, or where ever he wants to retire to,” he said. What Obasanjo calls mistakes are pre-meditated ruination of countries and peoples.

“One of the things that can discourage others from following the footsteps of those who have vacated power is the fear of what will happen to them after they leave office.”

Do these leaders think of the fact that they would leave office? Do they even act as if they are human? What would Obasanjo consider a heinous crime? Obviously, corruption will not qualify.

“When one looks at the political horizon, sit-tight leaders are becoming extinct species. Very few of them are left. They should look and see that those who have taken their exit are not worse for it. I am here. I know that ex-President Mbeki is also there.

There is life after the State House. And if they know that and also appreciate that there is something they can do to be useful to their country, Africa and humanity, maybe they would be encouraged to vacate,” Obasanjo advised.

Obasanjo could not afford to be strict on sit tight leaders because he wanted to be one of them. The choice of an important forum to make his point is not an accident. African leaders are human. They punish their people for less infractions than the corruption and the poor leadership they have visited on the continent.

In the past two years, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation has found no former African leader worthy of the award it set up to promote good governance.

Does that bother Obasanjo and his league of retired leaders?

Again, Obasanjo has proved that there is no need punishing corruption.

http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/main-square/62743-obasanjo-preaches-impunity-dont-try-ex-leaders-he-says.html