Also, being machmir in halacha… please provide some examples or sven one example where sefardi practice under rav ovadia became more strict. There aren’t any.
Rav ovadia championed returning to the ways of the beis yosef, and almost always eschewed the chumros of the kaf hachaim. He was maikil by sefardi standards. Were there misguided sefardi rabbis who happened to be chief rabbis who were extraordinarily lenient, largely due to nationalistic capitulation? Yes, there were. Eav ovadia was not like that.