Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said Sunday night that the battle against corruption cannot be effective and successful unless it begins with accountability among top government officials.

Obasanjo, who spoke during an interactive session on Zoom tagged “Boiling Point Arena”, said tackling corruption at the highest levels of leadership would set an example for others and demonstrate the government’s commitment to transparency and integrity.

The Conclave reports that the Zoom session, hosted by a private radio station in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, and aired by some private radio stations in Abeokuta, focused on Obasanjo’s legacies in government and his assessment of today’s Nigeria.

Obasanjo said the best way to fight corruption, which he described as a hydra-headed monster, was to start from the top echelon of the country’s leadership.

He further said the fight against corruption must be a consistent and daily affair to nip it in the bud.

“Corruption is very hydra-headed and eats deep. I think it was the Sultan of Sokoto, the father of the present Sultan, who said corruption is like a ‘babariga’, if you are folding it on one side, it’s falling apart on the other side. When you carry it on both sides, you cannot hold your hands up, and as soon as you put your hands down, it’s falling apart. And that’s corruption,” Obasanjo said.

“It’s not a one-day affair. It’s not a one-regime affair. It’s not even a two-regime affair. It has to be consistent. it has to be continual. It has to be a daily affair. Once one regime is let off, it spreads,” he said.

The former president called for a change in the recruitment and appointment of leaders into public offices, insisting that political appointments must be made on merit rather than on political or tribal basis.

Speaking on leadership, Obasanjo said only God makes a leader and leaders ordained by God always succeed, while self-made leaders or those enthroned by Satan are bound to fail.

“So I will say most leaders are prepared by God and then put in place by God and when that happens, the chances of success are higher than when you make yourself a leader which may not be the act of God,” Obasanjo said.

“And again, people saying all leaders are made by God, I don’t accept that. A leader can also be made by Satan. In the case of Job, you can remember Satan was going up and down and went before God, and God was commending Job, but Satan said Job was upright to God because of what he has gotten from God.

“We must accept that Satan is real and he has power. He has no salvation, but he has power, and the power of Satan must not be underrated,” he said.