The Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Tuesday said President Olusegun Obasanjo did not win the 1999 elections but was selected and imposed on the country by a few.

According to him, the President was also re-selected” in 2003.

Soyinka spoke at the National Seminar on Economic Crimes organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at its training centre in Karu, Abuja.

The seminar had as its theme, Leadership and Governance Challenges in Africa.”

Among the dignitaries in the audience was President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

Reacting to a statement by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, that Obasanjo was duly elected by Nigerians, Soyinka said, I dont want the Rwandan President to leave this place with the wrong impression that President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected and re-elected by Nigerians.

President Obasanjo was not elected, but was selected in 1999. Again in 2003, Obasanjo was not re-elected but was re-selected by his party.”

Soyinkas statement drew an immediate response from the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, who sprang to his feet and asked for the microphone.

In defence of his boss, Ojo argued that it was wrong to say Obasanjo was selected in 1999 and re-selected in 2003.

He said, I dont think it is right to say that the President was selected and re-selected in 1999 and 2003. The President was duly elected and re-elected by Nigerians in 1999 and 2003.”

Earlier, Soyinka, while commending the Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for the commissions performance, criticised the perks attached to public office.

He said, The first thing that anybody asks when he or she gets into position of authority is what he or she is entitled to. It is high time we terminated the culture of entitlement of those who govern this nation.”

On the forthcoming 2007 elections, the Nobel laureate advised members of the public to collect money from whoever offers it to them, but to vote according to their conscience.

He said, If people offer you money, please take it and vote according to your conscience. Nigerians should subvert the purpose for which the money is given and vote in line with their conviction.”

Soyinka also advised the Independent National Electoral Commission against restricting registration to people wishing to come together to form a party.

He said he and some other people had been trying to register a political party that would represent the masses, but that INEC refused to register the party.

Soyinka warned that he would in due course lead a protest to INECs office to demand the certificate of registration of the party.

The President of Rwanda, who presented a keynote address, decried the high level of corruption and greed among politicians and called for a movement towards politics of ethics” on the continent.

He noted, Politics on our continent (Africa) remains generally wanting, so to speak. It is not an exaggeration to say that the term ‘politics or ‘politician remains, on our continent, almost synonymous with corruption, greed, self-serving, extravagance, superficiality, cronyism and violence, among other failings.”

According to the Rwandan leader, this dismal scenario was not the case in the past, when political leadership in Africa was considered a calling for men of integrity.

He added, This was not the case historically. In pre-colonial and immediate post-colonial Africa, political leadership was considered an occupation of integrity and honour, and a means to serve society. Somewhere from the late 1960s onwards, the ethical essence of politics was lost on our continent.”

Kagame called on African countries to reclaim the glorious past in order to ensure the long sought development of their economies.

He said, We in Africa have the responsibility for reclaiming lost moral high ground, so that the term ‘politics can begin to become perceived and seen as constituting individual and collective responsibility for making positive changes towards greater well-being in the communities and nations.”

In an apparent reference to the orgy of political violence on the continent, he said, I maintain that the struggle for ‘politics of ethics must begin with the acknowledgement that our continental political realm reflects unacceptable level of malevolence - imagined or real.

We must therefore be seen and believed, especially by African populations, to be concretely and actively devising means of reinventing politics. Politics must become once again a worthy occupation that provides African people with hope and opportunities for achieving their own goals in life.”

Kagame also condemned the entitlement syndrome,” which he said had seriously encroached on the culture of merit needed for enabling politics to become a vehicle to serve.”

This syndrome, according to him, is to be blamed for the high rate of financial misappropriation among political leaders.

He added, In this attitude, some political leaders at all levels of society seem to believe they do not have to honorably earn what they get from the national treasury.

A merit culture, in which able leadership is held accountable and when leaders in turn hold responsible those they enlist to support them in delivery of public services, should be a way of life that we must uncompromisingly foster on our continent.”

He challenged Africans to refuse incompetent leaders, saying, The launch pad of a culture of merit is a refusal to blindly accept leaders. The merit way of life creates an unreceptive and antagonistic environment to mediocrity - a climate that continuously applies peer pressure for achieving positive societal change.”

Kagame further challenged Africans to combat corruption in order to check its corrosive effects on national life.

He added, Let us be frank about this, corruption breeds more, which continues like an infection to infest more people. Surely we must find ways of doing the reverse whereby more people are infected by good practices.

I realise, of course, that confronting bad governance and corruption is a difficult and risky business, but it must be done with urgency and purpose. Sacrifices have to be made; some people simply have to stand up to corruption, because lack of action is far more costly in human terms, with serious consequences for society.”

The EFCC chairman, Ribadu, explained that the topic on leadership became imperative because of the approaching transition to a new administration, and the need to continue the reform programmes.