Tag: corruption

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), has stated that if corruption is not killed in Nigeria, it will kill the people.

APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said there would be proper funeral for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on March 28, with President Goodluck Jonathan sent on honourable retirement.

The Director-General of Buhari Campaign Organisation, Governor Rotimi Amaechi said Jonathan was afraid of the election.

Buhari, Odigie-Oyegun, Amaechi and other leaders of the APC spoke yesterday at the party’s well-attended Southsouth zonal rally at the Liberation Stadium, Elekahia, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The rally was also attended by a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the APC, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja; the Rivers governorship candidate of the party, Dr. Dakuku Peterside and his wife, Elima, a lawyer; the standard bearer of the APC in Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; Amaechi’s wife, Judith; a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva; the Rivers Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, and the state’s Chairman of the APC, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, among other eminent personalities.

Gen. Buhari said: “If we do not kill corruption in this country, corruption will kill Nigerians. I assure you, we will plough back the funds for good infrastructure. Nigeria, with my experience in the petroleum industry, we are more of a gas country than petroleum country and we have no business not having regular electricity in this country. If you remove corruption, we need at least five years to have steady electric power, because we have to take the gas out. The gas is associated. It comes out with crude oil. You need high technology to separate it, to transport it, store it and build the power stations. Meanwhile, you have to complement it with the existing power stations, by maintaining them quarterly.

“When the PDP came, the megawatts (of electricity) was about 3000. After spending more than $20 billion in the last 16 years, we do not have up to 4000 megawatts. We must kill corruption. The leaders of the APC that are here (Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt) from the six states of the South-South (Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River), I want you to be serious about your country. We just have to kill corruption. Tell your colleagues throughout the geo-political zone (South-South) to make sure that on March 28 and April 11 to cast their votes for the candidates of the APC, with their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). Make sure your votes count. If you do not do it, you are really going to physically, materially and morally regret it. God forbid.”

Odigie-Oyegun, while also speaking, reiterated that the APC’s campaign team was on Wednesday in the Northwest zone, where it had a great reception and decided to move to the Southsouth zone yesterday.

The national chairman of APC said: “These two zones (Northwest and Southsouth) were not chosen by accident. They represent what we now call an assessment exercise. They are critical to the massive victory that we want to record on March 28. Are you going to contribute to the victory? The Northwest is the homebase of the incoming President (Buhari). The Southsouth is the homebase of the outgoing President (Dr. Jonathan). So, they are critical to the massive victory we want to record.

“Let me warn. They are down, but they are not yet out. So, there is a lot of work to do. That is what brought us here today. Let us not celebrate victory, until there is victory. There is work to be done, to make sure that the funeral of the PDP that was postponed for six weeks, they thought in six weeks, they could resurrect, let us make sure we have a proper funeral ceremony for the PDP onMarch 28.”

Amaechi said the Amnesty Programme would be continued, but all the persons that the Jonathan administration left behind would be added.

The governor said the Jonathan’s administration accommodated very few repentant Niger Delta militants in the amnesty programme, initiated by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2009.

Amaechi said: “You know I was in PDP. For the first time, I can see fear in their eyes. Even President Goodluck Jonathan is afraid. Before, he was walking like a big man, now everybody walks with respect. Everybody dey maintain, no be am? Even President Jonathan dey maintain. Now, na man pass man we dey. President Jonathan scored 1.8 million votes last time (in 2011), let him come and take it, let us see. Let him come and take the 1.8 million votes, let us see. We will be watching him with our eyes.

“Let me tell you the truth. Everyday, the police are arresting our people. It is only two weeks (to March 28 elections). I do not see CP (Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Dan Bature). I do not see anybody. On March 29, 2015, they will come and salute me again.

“Over 30 members of the APC have been killed (in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers State). There is no day that passes that they will not kill an APC member. Even today, they will kill one. They will account for these people. The President (Dr. Jonathan) said to us that his ambition is not worth anybody’s life, but what about the 30 persons killed? Can the President tell us that he will not run again, because he has allowed his people to kill 30 of our persons. Yesterday (on Wednesday), they (the police) were pursuing APC members round Port Harcourt. Anywhere we are campaigning, they will come and harass us. In Rivers State, we are not running against the PDP, we are running against the police. Today, the Chairman of Abua/Odual (LGA of Rivers State) is in a cell in Abuja, for being a member of the APC. Only two more weeks. They are intimidating you. If you want your own freedom, vote PDP out.

“On March 28, nobody will touch the card reader. That is their purge. They are already purging. My friend, Liyel Imoke (Governor of Cross River State), who does not answer my phone calls again, was preaching that all Nigerians must be allowed to vote and that if all Nigerians must be allowed to vote, we should therefore not use card readers. When we were writing results, were Nigerians voting? I told Liyel Imoke that my Bishop preached in the church and he got up to go and vote, but they told him to go back home, that they had voted for him, but he asked them: how did you know whom I would vote for?

“If INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) says 75 to 80 per cent, the commission is ready, Liyel Imoke is asking us that he wants all Nigerians to vote. No time that all Nigerians will ever vote. Majority of all Nigerians must be allowed to vote. What INEC is doing now is better than in the past, where we wrote our results. In the Southsouth and Southeast, we were writing results, people do not vote. This is the first time we will vote. PDP is afraid of card readers, because they know that if the card readers work, then the elections are over. That is why I am very proud to be a member of the APC in the South-South.”

Like a marketer sure of his products, All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari yesterday laid his party’s manifesto before the international community at the pretigious Chatham House, London, United Kingdom (UK). He told his audience that though he lacks power to change the past, he has what it takes to influence the present and shape the future if given the chance.

Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to talk about this important topic at this crucial time. When speaking about Nigeria overseas, I normally prefer to be my country’s public relations and marketing officer, extolling her virtues and hoping to attract investments and tourists. But as we all know, Nigeria is now battling with many challenges, and if I refer to them, I do so only to impress on our friends in the United Kingdom (UK) that we are quite aware of our shortcomings and are doing our best to address them.

 The 2015 general election in Nigeria is generating a lot of interests within and outside the country. This is understandable. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, is at a defining moment, a moment that has great implications beyond the democratic project and beyond the borders of my dear country.

 So, let me say upfront that the global interest in Nigeria’s landmark election is not misplaced at all and indeed should be commended; for this is an election that has serious import for the world. I urge the international community to continue to focus on Nigeria at this very critical moment. Given increasing global linkages, it is in our collective interests that the postponed elections should hold on the rescheduled dates; that they should be free and fair; that their outcomes should be respected by all parties; and that any form of extension, under whichever guise, is unconstitutional and will not be tolerated.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the dissolution of the USSR (United States of Soviet Republics) in 1991, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War, democracy became the dominant and most preferred system of government across the globe. That global transition has been aptly captured as the triumph of democracy and the ‘most pre-eminent political idea of our time.’ On a personal note, the phased end of the USSR was a turning-point for me. It convinced me that change can be brought about without firing a single shot.

 As you all know, I had been a military Head of State in Nigeria for 20 months. We intervened because we were unhappy with the state of affairs in our country. We wanted to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism, influenced by the prevalence and popularity of such drastic measures all over Africa and elsewhere, we fought our way to power. But the global triumph of democracy has shown that another and a preferable path to change is possible. It is an important lesson I have carried with me since, and a lesson that is not lost on the African continent.

 In the last two decades, democracy has grown strong roots in Africa. Elections, once so rare, are now so commonplace. As at the time I was a military Head of State between 1983 and 1985, only four African countries held regular multi-party elections. But the number of electoral democracies in Africa, according to Freedom House, jumped to 10 in 1992/1993 then to 18 in 1994/1995 and to 24 in 2005/2006. According to the New York Times, 42 of the 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa conducted multi-party elections between 1990 and 2002.

The newspaper also reported that between 2000 and 2002, ruling parties in four African countries (Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana and Mali) peacefully handed over power to victorious opposition parties. In addition, the proportion of African countries categorised as not free by Freedom House declined from 59 per cent in 1983 to 35 per cent in 2003. Without doubt, Africa has been part of the current global wave of democratisation.

But the growth of democracy on the continent has been uneven. According to Freedom House, the number of electoral democracies in Africa slipped from 24 in 2007/2008 to 19 in 2011/2012; while the percentage of countries categorised as ‘not free’ assuming for the sake of argument that we accept their definition of “free” increased from 35 per cent in 2003 to 41 per cent in 2013. Also, there have been some reversals at different times in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania and Togo. We can choose to look at the glass of democracy in Africa as either half full or half empty.

 While you cannot have representative democracy without elections, it is equally important to look at the quality of the elections and to remember that mere elections do not make democracy. It is globally agreed that democracy is not an event, but a journey. And that the destination of that journey is democratic consolidation – that state where democracy has become so rooted and so routine and widely accepted by all actors.

With this important destination in mind, it is clear that though many African countries now hold regular elections, very few of them have consolidated the practice of democracy. It is important to also state at this point that just as with elections, a consolidated democracy cannot be an end by itself. I will argue that it is not enough to hold a series of elections or even to peacefully alternate power among parties.

 It is much more important that the promise of democracy goes beyond just allowing people to freely choose their leaders. It is much more important that democracy should deliver on the promise of choice, of freedoms, of security of lives and property, of transparency and accountability, of rule of law, of good governance and of shared prosperity. It is very important that the promise embedded in the concept of democracy, the promise of a better life for the generality of the people, is not delivered in the breach.

Now, let me quickly turn to Nigeria. As you all know, Nigeria’s fourth republic is in its 16th year and this general election will be the fifth in a row. This is a major sign of progress for us, given that our first republic lasted five years and three months, the second republic ended after four years and two months and the third republic was a still-birth. However, longevity is not the only reason why everyone is so interested in this election.

 The major difference this time around is that for the very first time since transition to civil rule in 1999, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing its stiffest opposition so far from our party the All Progressives Congress (APC). We once had about 50 political parties, but with no real competition. Now Nigeria is transitioning from a dominant party system to a competitive electoral polity, which is a major marker on the road to democratic consolidation. As you know, peaceful alternation of power through competitive elections has happened in Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in recent times. The prospects of democratic consolidation in Africa will be further brightened when that eventually happens in Nigeria.

 But there are other reasons why Nigerians and the whole world are intensely focused on this year’s elections, chief of which is that the elections are holding in the shadow of huge security, economic and social uncertainties in Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. On insecurity, there is a genuine cause for worry, both within and outside Nigeria. Apart from the civil war era, at no other time in our history has Nigeria been this insecure.

Boko Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map; killing more than 13,000 of our nationals; displacing millions internally and externally and at a time holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium. What has been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle against insurgency. I, as a retired General and a former Head of State, have always known about our soldiers: they are capable, well trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty in the service of our country.

 You all can bear witness to the gallant role of our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur and in many other peace-keeping operations in several parts of the world. But in the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem. The government has also failed in any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to this problem leading to a situation in which we have now become dependent on our neighbours to come to our rescue.

 Let me assure you that if I am elected president, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently; that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service; we will give them adequate and modern arms and ammunitions to work with; we will improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels; we will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester, and I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front and return Nigeria to its leadership role in regional and international efforts to combat terrorism.

 On the economy, the fall in prices of oil has brought our economic and social stress into full relief. After the rebasing exercise in April 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as Africa’s largest economy. Our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is now valued at $510 billion and our economy rated 26th in the world. Also on the bright side, inflation has been kept at single digit for a while and our economy has grown at an average of seven per cent for about a decade.

But it is more of paper growth, a growth that, on account of mismanagement, profligacy and corruption, has not translated to human development or shared prosperity. A development economist once said three questions should be asked about a country’s development: one, what is happening to poverty? Two, what is happening to unemployment? And three, what is happening to inequality?

The answers to these questions in Nigeria show that the current administration has created two economies in one country, a sorry tale of two nations: one economy for a few who have so much in their tiny island of prosperity; and the other economy for the many who have so little in their vast ocean of misery.

 Even by official figures, 33.1 per cent of Nigerians live in extreme poverty. That’s at almost 60 million, almost the population of the UK. There is also the unemployment crisis simmering beneath the surface, ready to explode at the slightest stress, with officially 23.9 per cent of our adult population and almost 60 per cent of our youth unemployed. We also have one of the highest rates of inequalities in the world.

 With all these, it is not surprising that our performance on most governance and development indicators (like Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance and (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP’s)Human Development Index) are unflattering. With fall in the prices of oil, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of government revenues, and lack of savings from more than a decade of oil boom, the poor will be disproportionately impacted.

In the face of dwindling revenues, a good place to start the repositioning of Nigeria’s economy is to swiftly tackle two ills that have ballooned under the present administration: waste and corruption. And in doing this, I will, if elected, lead the way, with the force of personal example.

 On corruption, there will be no confusion as to where I stand. Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not be appointed into my administration. First and foremost, we will plug the holes in the budgetary process. Revenue producing entities such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Customs and Excise will have one set of books only. Their revenues will be publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The institutions of state dedicated to fighting corruption will be given independence and prosecutorial authority without political interference.

 But I must emphasise that any war waged on corruption should not be misconstrued as settling old scores or a witch-hunt. I am running for President to lead Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity.

 In reforming the economy, we will use savings that arise from blocking these leakages and the proceeds recovered from corruption to fund our party’s social investments programmes in education, health, and safety nets such as free school meals for children, emergency public works for unemployed youth and pensions for the elderly.

 As a progressive party, we must reform our political economy to unleash the pent-up ingenuity and productivity of the Nigerian people, thus freeing them from the curse of poverty. We will run a private sector-led economy but maintain an active role for government through strong regulatory oversight and deliberate interventions and incentives to diversify the base of our economy, strengthen productive sectors, improve the productive capacities of our people and create jobs for our teeming youths.

In short, we will run a functional economy driven by a worldview that sees growth not as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a society that works for all, rich and poor alike. On March 28, Nigeria has a decision to make. To vote for the continuity of failure, or to elect progressive change. I believe the people will choose wisely.

In sum, I think that given its strategic importance, Nigeria can trigger a wave of democratic consolidation in Africa. But as a starting point we need to get this critical election right by ensuring that they go ahead, and depriving those who want to scuttle it the benefit of derailing our fledgling democracy. That way, we will all see democracy and democratic consolidation as tools for solving pressing problems in a sustainable way, not as ends in themselves.

Permit me to close this discussion on a personal note. I have heard and read references to me as a former dictator in many respected British newspapers including the well regarded Economist. Let me say without sounding defensive that dictatorship goes with military rule, though some might be less dictatorial than others. I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch.

 I cannot change the past. But I can change the present and the future. So, before you is a former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms and is subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic elections for the fourth time.

You may ask: why is he doing this? This is a question I ask myself all the time too. And here is my humble answer: because the work of making Nigeria great is not yet done, because I still believe that change is possible, this time through the ballot, and most importantly, because I still have the capacity and the passion to dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations and that all Nigerians will be proud of.

I thank you for listening.

THE general elections are around the corner. Politicians seeking elective positions are crisscrossing the length and breadth of the land. But ahead of the polls, billed for February 14 and 28, there is one common issue many Nigerians want discussed by the hordes of politicians and political parties now mounting the rostrums to canvass for vote.

That singular issue is corruption. Not a few would like to know how candidates seeking national executive and legislative positions plans to tame the menace that has become a monster after years of unchecked spread and integration within all the facets of the country’s socio-economic and political existence.

Of course, the serious concern attached to this hydra-headed monster by the electorate cannot be misplaced because corruption, as of today, has become a difficult problem.

Far more than diseases and violent militant groups have done, corruption, analysts claim, is threatening the very survival of Nigeria as a nation. And given that one of the ways to judge a functional democracy is how it treats the issue of corruption, Nigeria’s democratic journey has remained unimpressive; no thanks to a record of soaring corrupt practices within government and non-governmental corridors.

Explaining why the public must put politicians and their political parties to task on the issue of corruption ahead of the February elections, frontline journalist and public commentator, Eze Anaba, says corruption has become a recurring decimal.

“A timely example of the evil of corruption is poverty, inequality, insecurity and under-development in many African states. Everyone is a victim when some officials appropriate the commonwealth for their personal benefits and the chronic under-enforcement of anti-corruption laws in many countries is responsible for this state of affairs,” Anaba argued.

He recalled that in several discussions where reasons behind the Nigeria’s poor showing in the development index crop up, corruption continues to hit the front seat.

“The reason Nigeria is so poorly rated in the anti-corruption index is because successive years of military rule and the civilian administrations that succeeded the military have not been able to tackle the problem,” he added.

Dr. Kolawole Olaniyan, a legal adviser with Amnesty International said: “Corruption unquestionably violates Article 21 of the African Charter, as well as other substantive human and peoples’ rights in the charter.

“Not only is it the case that every dollar lost from corruption is one less than can be spent constructively, but also that the loss is often offset by government borrowing. These loans or international aid received from abroad may be considered part of the ‘national cake’ to be shared among high-ranking state officials, or, in plain language, stolen or mismanaged,” the lawyer, who is the author of ‘Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa,’ added.

Political observers said the issue is not only germane but capable of influencing how the people of the country would vote during the elections. They argued that after a long and fruitless wait for an administration that would take the bull by the horns and tackle the problem of corruption head on, the electorate appear determined more than ever before to put the issue on the front burner when deciding who rules them this time around.

Danger signals

Recently, a former United States ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Walter Carrington, viewed corruption as the greatest problem confronting Nigeria, warning of looming dangers unless something is urgently done to address the situation.

Carrington said: “Corruption is the most terrible monster that confronts Nigeria but we must all work hard to tame this monster. In order words, I am certain that virtually all the problems associated with governance would be removed if we can summon the courage to tackle corruption and banish it from our activities.”

The envoy added that development does not have a bigger enemy than corruption and the development of Nigeria is hinged on ridding politics from corruption and corrupt practices.

He said: “But I regret to say that I have seen too many good people of high character yield after putting up a good fight, which is why efforts must be redoubled to create an environment in which character and virtues are rewarded and not scorned.

The question must now be asked. Why is Africa’s most endowed country, which earns $57 billion a year in oil revenue, not yet able to solve its persistent power and infrastructure problems?”

Challenging stakeholders in the Nigerian project on the need to be united, he said “a cure must be found for the corrosive cancer of corruption.”

The envoy is not alone in his worries. Kayode Oladele, Chief of Staff, Office of the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is worried that unless the country rids itself of corruption, poverty, political instability and blanket criminalisation of its citizens is inevitable.

“First, corruption promotes poverty. A simple example could be made with the corruption in the management of the pension funds in Nigeria. The theft of pension funds means that retired Nigerians would not have access to their pensions as at when due.

“This means that those that have dependants to care for would be deprived of the needed funds. Some pensioners eventually died because of the rising expectations that often end in frustrations sometimes occasioned by standing for hours in long queues.

“What happens to the dependants of a pensioner who is deprived of his/her pensions? Will such dependants be able to attend qualitative schools or will they be forced out of schools to fend for themselves?

“If education remains one of the main routes leading to a good life and national development, without education, what would be the future of these dependants and the country?”

“Another consequence of corruption is that it creates political instability. This is because unrestricted corruption makes the state an unlimited allocator of wealth to individuals and groups. This character of the state makes it possible for the politics of do-or-die to take root, with politicians struggling to out-compete one another sometimes in a most violent manner.

“Again, corruption aids blanket criminalisation of Nigerians, especially the youths.  With its capacity to generate poverty and instability, the youths have been systematically hijacked for selfish ends by unscrupulous politicians and ideologues.

“Many of those who were not “hijacked” have found interest in advance fee fraud popularly known as Yahoo-yahoo or 419 in local parlance. While corruption cannot, and should not, be the singular cause of this systematic criminalisation, it contributes to it,” Ololade posited.

Unwilling leadership

To make the situation more frightening for the populace, some local and international observers have alleged that the current administration lacks the required political will to tackle corruption. This, many analysts posit, may influence the electorate to vote for change.

The former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, was unsparing  when he said the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has not demonstrated enough serious in the fight against corruption.

Akanbi, who is a former President of the Court of Appeal, said corruption, kidnapping and other societal ills have been on the rise and that government institutions and the judiciary remain helpless in rising to their statutory responsibilities.

The retired judge said: “Honestly, I do not see what is being done about corruption now. I ask myself these questions: Does it mean that all the governors are corruption-free? Does it mean all the legislators are corruption-free? Does it mean the judiciary is corruption free?

“We know that it is happening but people are not being arrested, no action is being taken and the end result is that people accept bribe with impunity now.

“At least, if they had taken few people to court, we would have known that something is being done. There is a general lull and the fight against corruption has gone down completely.

“Now, when you look at many people wanting to be governors, is it because they want to serve their people or that they want to go and chop? It is apparent that many of them want to enrich themselves because they know that when you go there you make money and become wealthy, ditto going to the legislature. Yet people are suffering; there is no development.

“Corruption, kidnapping and other ills of the society have gone on the ascendency. We know about Oduahgate and the billions of naira that Sanusi alleged was missing. The terrible thing is that the judiciary is not helping. The indices are that the moments are dark, the clouds have thickened, corruption is escalating,” the ex-ICPC boss lamented.

Constitutional lawyer, Mallam Yusuf Ali, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), also accused Jonathan’s administration of not doing anything at all to stamp out corruption. He urged Nigerians to know that corruption makes all the citizens poorer in the short and long run.

His words: “I have said this long time ago, there is no drive against corruption by the current government and that is quite obvious because the President believes that there is no corruption in Nigeria.

“He believes that what is going on is petty stealing. So, if he doesn’t believe there is corruption, you can’t hold him for not driving any anti-corruption war. If somebody doesn’t believe there is a problem then he would not be obliged to look for solution.”

In what looked like a confirmation of what his critics have been saying that the Federal Government has achieved little or nothing in the monumental fight against corruption, President Jonathan recently said though politicians are thieves, they are not corrupt.

He said: “What many Nigerians refer to as corruption is actually stealing.  Stealing is not the same thing as corruption,” the President had said, sending many Nigerians into fits of rage that lasted for weeks.

“Just few days back, Jonathan confirmed his unwillingness to confront the monster called corruption just yet when, during his campaign rally in Lagos, he announced that he is not eager to jail anybody for corruption.

“They said they will start fighting corruption after they have crossed the bridge. And only two days ago, somebody stood in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and said he would catch people that steal and throw them in Kirikiri (Prisons).

“I agree that we must stop corruption but I will not do so by catching people and putting them in crates and jailing or killing them. We can’t stop corruption that way.”

The way to go

From all indications, Nigeria has just one choice, and that is to fight corruption with all seriousness and with immediate effect. Former Ghanaian President of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, recently  called on African countries, especially Nigeria, to intensify the anti-corruption fight, especially, within the government, failing which he warned  of the likelihood of a sudden eruption as it occurred in Egypt and Tunisia.

Rawlings, who gave a keynote address at the 2nd Zik Lecture Series, organised by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State on the theme: “Eradicating Corruption in Africa”, said the battle against corruption must be fought, no matter how difficult.

He warned that treating corruption with the kid’s gloves will be like postponing the evil’s day.

George Nsa Nsa of Transparency Nigeria also suggested a panacea to corruption in the public service.

It is imperative for the National Assembly to amend the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) Act immediately, he said.

Nsa said: “The Act must be amended to provide that all political appointees should declare their assets annually by making annual asset returns every January, (tax returns) because the extant provision that requires assets declaration every four years have several loop-holes that are being exploited by public servants.

Also, the CCB should create a unit within it for the continuous tracking of assets returns of politicians holding public office, senior civil and public servants, among others, similar to what the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does to check money laundering through the banks.

“We need also to replace the justice delivery system by replacing the status quo with a jury verdict system, through the ongoing constitution amendment process. You can trust the people to do justice to those who are corrupt, as members of a jury.

“The police must also be mandated to release everyone arrested without warrant within 12 hours. Remove their discretion to detain anyone beyond 12 hours except for crimes such as treasonable felonies and murders.

“This is vital because abuse of human rights and “sale of bail” is a lucrative practice by the police. And routinely, the Attorney-General/DPP/Justice departments should vet all occupants of police detention cells, custody rooms and those in prisons awaiting-trial to deliver innocent Nigerians from the corruption and inhumanity of the police.”

If Nigerians vote for only people who can sincerely invest their time and energy to the battle against corruption, the country can heave a sigh of relief after the 2015 general elections.

Perhaps this will explain why adults are mounting pressure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure all eligible Nigerians get the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), which would enable them to elect the right candidate.

General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), assured Nigerians that corrupt politicians would end up in jail if elected.

Speaking at Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, Buhari, who is flying the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC), promised to block all loopholes through public funds are siphoned.

 “When we come into power, anyone who steals Nigeria’s money will end up in Kirikiri Maximum Prisons. We are going to make sure that Nigeria’s wealth belongs only to Nigerians,” the APC candidate said.