Oby Ezekwesili: “My opinion can’t establish if Obasanjo was corrupt, only empirical evidence can”

Former minister of education, Oby Ezekwesili has reacted to critics who slammed her over the question on Obasanjo’s administration as asked by Mehdi Hasan of Aljazeera. Making her position known on Twitter, Ezekwesili said, ” I have been vocal about my long held stance that accusing anyone of corruption is too much of a serious matter to be so glibly done.all ardent followers of my rested #publicpolicy101 will confirm that i always insist on empirical evidence.


#opinionversusfactsoncorruption. Corruption is malignant& research shows that it is a cancerous to development with nigeria as a prime e.g. as one of co-founders of transparency i. twenty years ago, we see empirical evidence as an antidote. Empirical evidence is most potent weapon for tackling corruption on the tripod of 1. lead moral reorientation. 2. prevention. 3. deterrence. of the tripod -1.moral reorientation led by top most political leadership- 2.prevention–&3.deterrence; the last has recorded least success.

“President leads anti- corruption with evidence of what corruption is costing society; especially the poor. govt embarks on prevention measures to reduce opportunity 4 corruption thru structural changes; institutional/systems reforms using evidence. Some little progress is seen to be achieved on the two by even countries ridden with systemic corruption but not the third- deterrence. Why? Deterrence measures are what complete the tripod in an effective anti- corruption program. These convey zero tolerance for corruption. Deterrence measures are about a society’s laws & their enforcement thru a functional justice system to predictably sanction corruption.

“Once a country’s deterrence measures are weak, incentive for corruption is high & the corrupt seize on this to weaken resolve to tackle it! Key weapon of the corrupt to weaken a country’s-citizens & leaders’- resolve to tackle corruption is to entrench view that everyone is corrupt!prevalent “culture” evolves to criminality of corruption being tolerated cos it has been reduced to “something everyone commits.” As Nigeria wrestled with systemic corruption over the decades, our society adopted the cop out approach of tolerating corruption. Such tolerance fuels wild/ unsubstantiated/anecdotal/opinion based accusation of anyone of corruption and this kills society even more! Why? Accepting “opinion” as a basis for concluding an individual to be corrupt completely destroys the empirical premise of deterrence measures. On whether my boss was corrupt; I said and still maintain as I do for all, that empirical evidence must be established.”

source:City People