Elder statesman Dr. Tunji Braithwaite is dead, aged 82. He was said to have died at the St. Nicholas Hospital in Lagos.
Before his death, Braithwaite had criticized former leaders, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida for making corruption attractive to state governors in the country.
“Obasanjo is not saying anything original because when he assumed office in 1999, I warned that the military constitution would make the governors emperors,” he said during an interview with Punch on Tuesday, February 2, 2016 after Obasanjo accused some governors of living like emperors at the expense of the masses.
“Governors determine security votes which they do not account for. Since 1999, the military constitution clothes them (governors and president) with immunity against being arrested for criminal misdeeds. Many of them brazenly looted the treasury and got away with it. Obasanjo became rich through this structure.
“Something appears to be driving Obasanjo to be making frivolous statements everywhere. He and Babangida made corruption attractive to governors and they elevated corruption in governance which subsequent presidents and governors are emulating,” he added.
Braithwaite was also the founder of the defunct Nigeria Advanced Party (NAP).
