The Nation Newspaper

Tag: corruption

  • Antidote for corruption

    Title: Fighting Corruption is Dangerous

    Author: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

    Reviewer: Arinze Oduah

    NIGERIA is not lacking in technical and leadership talent, and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is proof of this statement. Her latest book chronicling her second stint in public service is saturated with insights, recommendations and unforgettable anecdotes. My takeaways from her experience as the Finance Minister, and concurrently, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy (CME), are summarised below:

    Decades of mismanagement of the economy cannot be unwound in two consecutive presidential terms, even with the most cohesive economic team and a coherent economic management agenda. This is due to the structural fragility of the  economy. Our economy is oil-dependent and therefore vulnerable to oil price volatility. Add to this weakness the historical record of poor economic management and mediocre GDP per capita rarely rising above four per cent the high annual population growth rate (about 2.6 per cent), serious internal security challenges (Boko Haram, MEND, IPOB, Herdsmen, Bandits, etc) that undermine productivity, and a decaying infrastructure and educational system wholly incapable of producing human capital for a 21st century economy, then it is no surprise that the Nigerian economy will need to be on steroids (with GDP per capita less six per cent) for over a ten-year period before we can start turning the corner.

    Without a minimum consensus around which Nigeria’s governing elite (choose to) discipline themselves over a long time horizon, it will be wishful thinking to expect consistent progress. In fact, there appears to be no consensus on even fundamental economic strategies such as the Oil Price-Based Fiscal Rule designed to save money for the rainy day to provide budget support whenever the oil price dips.

    There is also a huge disconnect between reform policies and related institution building at the Federal level, and the frequent displays of executive recklessness at state level (witness the number of ex-governors being prosecuted for economic crimes, with some notable convictions). Without Federal-state coordination and mutual reinforcement of reform policies backed up by constitutional safeguards to check the potential for executive abuses at State level, all attempts at economic reform will be executed at half-battery.

    Our legislators offer no comfort. Based on NOI’s account, it is difficult not to perceive the National Assembly as a congregation of persons who prioritise their self-interest. This vital segment of the governing elite is perhaps the most fractious and resistant to arguments about the need to make sacrifices today for a better future. The role played by the legislature in reviewing and passing the national budget to ensure that their so-called first line charge is plumped up and ring-fenced, even at the expense of economically ruinous oil price benchmark, frustrates economic reforms.

    Building, embedding and deepening institutional mechanisms for fighting corruption is the best guarantee for sustainable progress in this challenging undertaking. By embedding and deepening such mechanisms they become difficult and inconvenient to undo, and provide a real chance of becoming the accepted culture over time. The opportunity space for developing and deploying such systematic institutional mechanisms is large, in fact, larger and faster than any other approaches. From the Treasury Single Account, to computerising government payrolls, to enrolling pensioners in biometric databases, to introduction of biometrics-based Bank Verification Numbers, and so on, the opportunity for undetected fraud is being consistently narrowed to prevent leakages, protect public funds, and direct them to where they are required in the public interest.

    The other planks for addressing corruption should be worked simultaneously, and separated from the politics of the day. These include; the investigation, prosecution, punishment and public censure of those who defraud the State at all levels; the enrollment of a diverse range of stakeholders, including traditional authorities, schools, faith-based organisations, civil society organisations, the media, international development partners, and so on; and the further democratisation of access to information in the tradition of sharing monthly data about budget releases to all tiers of government. We need to know how much is generated, how much is spent, on what is spent, and what is saved and invested for the future, etc.

    As a country we are failing to attract top talent into public service because of the way we have treated those who offered their services in the past. Despite enduring untold hardships (including the kidnapping of her aged mother!) in her self-sacrificing service to Nigeria, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala was subjected to a vicious campaign of calumny that she only survived because of her solid international reputation. As she herself rhetorically questioned, it is open to conjecture whether a lesser well-known person would have survived such attacks and come out unscathed.

    Service to one’s country should neither become an act of self-flagellation, nor an invitation to martyrdom. There must be ways of protecting those who offer themselves for service, both while they are serving and when they have finished their official engagements.

    Those who want to serve should borrow a leaf from her and be courageous, knowing what to expect – abuse, brickbats, calumniation, death threats, and the occasional encouragement. Hers is a story of uncommon love for Nigeria and a determination to leverage her prodigious talent, international networks, and focus to transform the way Nigeria’s economy is managed. By all accounts she succeeded despite the deliberate headwinds of distraction. It takes a true leader to build a formidable team and to persevere under pressure.

    Nigeria still has a very long way to go in gender equality and in dismantling barriers to a merit-driven culture. You cannot turbocharge an economy on the back of mediocrity and a culture that holds back women in all areas. The statistics of women disempowerment is damning, and the need to close the gap is most urgent in Northeast Nigeria.

    Unless a state of emergency is declared on this issue it will continue to hold us back as a nation.

    We must find ways to honor our heroes, especially our women who have served with distinction, and set them up as living role models for the next generation.

    Lastly, the individuals who showed up in poor light in her book are well known to us. Interestingly, many of them are posing as today’s reformers and agents of change. We now know better. This should guide us in choosing our leaders carefully whenever we have the opportunity to do so.

  • Stop blackmailing CAN on corruption, Atilade tells FG

    The South West chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Archbishop Magnus Atilade, has appealed to the federal government to isolate and deal decisively with corrupt individuals in line with the rule of law instead of blackmailing the body.

    Atilade, who spoke with our correspondent in his Lagos office at the weekend, declared CAN has zero-tolerance for corruption.

    Stating the apex Christian body is prepared to support the anti-corruption drive of the current administration, he said: “There are many church leaders preaching about honesty, integrity and righteous living in most of their denominations and we will continue to stand against any form of unrighteousness”.

    On the recent call by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on pastors to preach anti-corruption sermons, the cleric restated the determination of CAN to a corrupt-free, sane society.

    He stressed corrupt individuals should be isolated and prosecuted according to the laws irrespective of their tribal cultural or religious affiliations, stating that CAN should not be blackmailed.

    “The vice president is a Christian and he knows that there are lots of Christians and church leaders who have not soiled their hands in any form of corruption and thus the church should be encourage to do more in the fight against corruption,” he said.

    He challenged Osinbajo to mention names of church leaders fuelling or promoting corruption through their sermons so that CAN will not be given a bad public perception.

    To him, money changers and gospel merchants should be exposed and chased out of the church as well as th larger society.

    He stated the church will not stop pressurising the government to do more in the fight against corruption and all forms of insecurity in the land.

    While he commended the effort of the government in fighting insurgency, he said that it is sad that some communities are still under the siege of Boko Haram.

  • Nigeria’s priestly class and corruption

    Both the Christian Holy Bible and Islamic Holy Quran consider man as the crown of God’s creation endowed with immense powers. With great powers however come great responsibilities. But man, sociologists believe, want an unfettered freedom while at the same time wants to preside over an empire of slaves. The purpose of religion in society according to the Abrahamic faiths especially (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) therefore is to tame man, promote co-existence by guiding against corruption in order to prevent bloodshed between those who don’t have and those who have taken more their proportionate share of a nation’s resources. Those called upon to adjudicate in the deadly battle between deprivation and avarice is the priestly class.

    Men and women who belong to this special group wield enormous powers because of their ability to control the wills and strength of ordinary people whose rebelliousness could lead to social dislocations. As it happens, they don’t need an army. Their only weapon is setting the moral tone. Once this is done, even governments elected to implement various laws propounded by thinkers and philosophers over the ages to ensure man does not destroy himself, are guided by the moral tone set by the priestly class.  As The Guardian of London recently argued in an editorial, “a moral society is not created out of laws. Indeed, such laws are a sign that a society‘s morality has failed. In a society with a substantial moral foundation, such laws would not be needed.” (The Guardian of London, September 7, 1999). Once the priestly class sets the moral tone, politicians are expected to lead by example.

    Much is therefore expected from the priestly class. This was perhaps why Jesus Christ, the greatest teacher, social crusader and mankind’s saviour from Nazareth descended heavily on the priestly class of His days: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees; you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint and dill and cumin. But you have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy and faith, and for serving as blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel (Mathew 23:23-26).

    And come to think of it. It is as if Christ was speaking to the priestly class in Nigeria and some other African societies that are currently experiencing moral decline. For instance, to ensure the priestly class is prepared and knowledgeable about the role of religion in society, Paul Kagame , the president of Rwanda recently admitted to “closing down 6000 churches and demanding a degree in theology for every religious leader to stop playing people’s faith to make business”.

    Not too long ago here in Nigeria, Vice President (pastor) Yemi Osinbajo, in a message to his fellow pastors during the recently concluded 30th National Biennial Conference of the Students Christian Movement (SCM) of Nigeria held in Enugu, reminded them that “The story of our country is about good and evil. It is about those that have left us in this condition by stealing our common resources…Very rarely do you hear our preachers talk about corruption from their pulpits. If a nation is not righteous, nothing will help it.”

    Of course we know our priestly class has been accomplices in the moral decline of our society since the collapse of the first republic. In the fourth republic, a section of the priestly class under the umbrella of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) led by prosperity prophets claiming to be holier than the Pope who they in fact said is not a Christian, joined the enemies of the nation by trading their priestly cloaks for dirty lucre. Those ordained to set moral tone for the country deployed their private jets to help government launder money to South Africa and other undisclosed areas. On their part, Muslim clerics sold grace to President Jonathan and his PDP government amount running into billions of naira.

    Governors who illegally and immorally usurped mandates freely given to their political opponents by the electorate as well as other criminal elements currently in court facing EFCC charges of fraud found accommodation in churches. Governor Jonah Jang, after losing a keenly contested Nigeria Governor’s Forum chairmanship election to Governor Rotimi Amaechi by 14 to 17 with the support of President Jonathan proclaimed himself the winner and proceeded to the church for a victory thanksgiving.

    Not much has changed under President Buhari. The clerics kept their peace when one of their own, Babachir Lawal, President Buhari’s ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation was indicted by two probes for awarding contracts to a company in which he allegedly had an interest. Before then, all we heard from the Muslim clerics ordained to set the moral tone when Bukola Saraki told a shocked nation how he inelegantly assumed the leadership of the senate to spite his party, was a deafened silence. It was not different when Ike Ekweremadu regaled on how he spent a whole night with stalwarts of his party in David Mark’s sitting room plotting how to receive deputy senate president seat which by convention belongs to the ruling party but which Saraki was ready to sell off to consolidate his immorally acquired position. Besides throwing a party, he also had a church thanksgiving in his village. And when he was briefly detained recently by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged fraud by failing to explain how he came to own 22 properties in Nigeria, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates as a public officer since 1999, which he failed to declare in his Asset Declaration Form at the Code of Conduct Bureau, a number of Bishops in their shining white clerical cloaks, rather than wait for him in their churches, chose to take the prayers to him in his Asokoro official residence. A picture of sober deputy senate president kneeling down with the clerics placing their hands on his head went viral on the social media.

    Even the often more restrained Catholic Bishops who justifiably recently sent a letter to President Buhari accusing government of “standing back while its security agencies deliberately turn a blind eye to the cries and wails of helpless and armless citizens who remain sitting ducks in their homes, farms, highway and now, even in their sacred places of worship” has not spoken forcefully enough against corrupt elements. If anything, from the comments of some Bishops, the church’s stand seems to be ‘let us forge ahead and forget yesterday’ as if there can be tomorrow without today’.

    It is not just that the clerics have conveniently avoided speaking against corruption, the source of the nation’s current travails, many clerics have continued to see only prophesy of doom for the nation. The other day one said “I prophesied before Yar’Adua travelled to Saudi Arabia and died, I prophesied before Jonathan became president and also said that Buhari will win. So if Buhari messes up, I will be directed by God to tell him, Buhari where is the change you promised?”

    There was another cleric who claimed, that “the Holy Ghost revealed to him before Muhammadu Buhari was voted in as president, that his reign would bring doom to Nigerians.”

    Of course we have some of their clients such as Femi Fani-Kayode who recently claimed that “Not only has the Lord rejected Buhari…he will he be disgraced out of office with shame and ignominy”, without telling us if his source is controversial Ayo Fayose who he had described as a prophet following his victory over Fayemi in 2014, a victory which according to EFCC was obtained with a N3billion war chest, funds from the then President Jonathan.

    What we need is a moral society. But the priestly class must first set the moral tone.

     

  • Still on corruption

    As I noted in my last week’s column titled Corruption in high places, there is an urgent need to tackle the malaise which is a major hindrance to the development of the country as the citizens would have wanted.

    No one can deny that the present government has shown a lot of determination to fight corruption. Not only is President Muhammadu Buhari’s credentials a major convincing factor, his repeated promises not to treat the problem with kid gloves like his predecessors gives a lot of hope.

    However beyond his utterances, he needs to match his words with deeds. A number of unresolved cases like those of the former Secretary to the Government, Babachir David Lawal, Chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, who was secretly recalled to the service and promoted to head a directorate in the interior ministry and even the un-golden silence of the Minister of Finance over the allegation of forging her National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) certificate leaves a big question mark on the anti-corruption crusade of the government.

    Below is a response to my last column by Venerable Tayo Adebayo from Idi-Ayunre, Ibadan on how to combat corruption  

    I read your last Sunday’s bit in THE NATION. The failure of government to make any meaningful impact in its fight against corruption is a clear result and obvious demonstration of the futility of fighting corruption in the flesh. What do I mean by this?

    The plain truth is that Nigeria is indisputably a Godless nation. Forget all the millions of religious assemblies (Christian & Moslem) all over the country. They’re no more than mere assemblies meant to deceive ourselves; but as the Holy Writ says: ‘God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.’ Only those who are led by the Spirit of God are His true followers. You cannot reap the fruit of the Spirit from the vine of sinful nature. What then is the way out?

    The federal government must pick a day or a week for all Nigerians (the leaders and the led) to go to God in a spirit of penitence, to confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness.

    I’m of the belief that a legislated weekly national BROTHERLY LOVE DEMONSTRATION as a policy matter, would after a time, ultimately become the average Nigerian’s second nature as it goes into our subconscious as  psychologists would say. Endemic corruption is a product of decades of societal decadence which has given birth to a community of people with paralysed consciences, a nation where might is right, a people that sees greed as a creed, a race where self-interest is the thrust of our catechism.

    After all, someone says: adjustment to a deformed society creates deformed individuals. But God is love. Consequently, the assurance is there for us as a nation to gain access to His grace as we faithfully engage in this mode of fighting the monster called CORRUPTION.

    Thereafter, the government shall pick a day (midweek) like the Environment Sanitation Day as NATIONAL BROTHERLY LOVE DEMONSTRATION DAY (NBLDD) to be observed weekly by all Nigerians. What to do on that day? Every Nigerian (old and young) will be encouraged through the media to pray for someone outside his/her immediate family circle and then spend the rest of the day to offer one form of assistance or the other to someone outside his/her family circle in the course of the same day.

    You find this too simplistic, childish, puerile or naive? Yes it may appear so. But hear this: ‘…unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Or as someone puts it:  ‘There is no affectation about a true follower of God; he is as a little child, amazingly simple, but unfathomably deep.’ God bless Nigeria.

     

  • Corruption in high places

    It is well known that corruption is well entrenched at all levels, be it in government or the private sector.  No section of our society, even hallowed religious sanctuaries, is spared of corrupt practices of kinds that have become so entrenched that we have remained a poor nation despite the enormous resources God has blessed us with.

    It is not often that one gets to read fine details of how corruption thrives in particularly government circles from people who should know. The book by former Finance-Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala entitled Fighting Corruption is dangerous is indeed the story behind the headlines of massive corruption in high places, which underscores the enormity of the challenges we face in our quest to ensure that our resources are not appropriated by some few persons who abuse their offices.

    Just imagine an unnamed top-ranking presidential aide who must have been benefitting from those collecting up to $6 million a year as Cargo Tracking Note which was abolished under the port reforms by the government, asking security men not to allow the minister to enter the Villa through a gate she normally passes through for morning prayers.

    Since the former minister refused to yield to his request that the fee not remitted to the nation’s treasury should be reinstated despite presidential directive for its stoppage, the power-drunk took the laws into his hands and even went to the extent of preventing the convoy of the visiting Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Madame Christine Lagarde, from entering the Villa through the gates reserved for dignitaries of her status.

    Like Okonjo-Iweala rightly stated, it’s unbelievable that people like the presidential aide were prepared to put at risk such a high-level and important visit for the country’s economy for personal pecuniary interests.

    While the former minister was able to rebuff the aide’s show of power, I’m sure there must have been many other instances where he had his way at the expense of the country with other government officials willing to meet his demands for fear of what such desperate persons could do.

    Such is the power and influence that many close aides of top government officials, like the one above, wield that they directly and indirectly aid and abet corruption, sometimes without the knowledge of their bosses.

    I recently renewed a document and the aide of the officer in charge who asked that I should be assisted devised a means of getting extra charges more than the official fee by asking a non-staff of the organisation to process it for me.

    He was not bothered that I was a journalist and flatly stated that the extra charges were the cost of processing, which was mainly taking the forms from one office to the other. His boss will definitely get to hear what transpired soon and I want to confirm why the aide has such audacity to act the way he did.

    One other thing that has struck me so far in the former minister’s book is how close scammers can get to defraud the country by meeting the president with their bogus proposal and would have succeeded but for the intervention of forthright officials like Okonjo-Iweala.

    If she was ready to cooperate like in an instance she cited, the country would have been committed to guaranteeing loans that would have ended up swelling our debt portfolio.

    We can’t give up fighting corruption because like President Mohammadu Buhari once said: if we don’t kill corruption, it will surely kill us as a country.

  • Power struggle, corruption and democracy

    There is no doubt  that  a serious power  struggle is going on in Nigeria between  the legislature and the executive in Nigeria’s volatile  presidential  system  of democracy. It has become  a do  or die affair even though either side claims to be fighting for  or upholding the rule of law  but there  is more than meets the eye in either claim. Undoubtedly  it has  become   such   a dangerous development  that any  meeting of the legislature is  bound    to be  prone to violence from within, as opposed to the violence from without recently when armed masked men prevented law makers from entering the National  Assembly, which in itself  was  a coup  against  not only the legislature   but  Nigeria’s  democracy. Yet  in this dangerous power struggle   one cannot but recall  the statement of  late Anthony Enahoro, Action Group  legislator   who proposed self government for  Nigeria in the colonial days and proclaimed that  ‘this is the beginning of a chain  of events, the end  of which  no  one knows’.  Certainly one can say the same for this   approaching  political  tornado  heading  in the direction of NASS, Abuja    in the  show down  between  the Nigerian government  and the Senate over   the    looming  removal  of the Senate  President    and  his   refusal  to quit,  as  well as    the maintenance  of the rule of law.

    Inevitably  too one can  recall  the AG crisis of 1962   in  the Western Region House of  Assembly   Ibadan  which  led to the treason trial  and jailing of Chief  Obafemi Awolowo  and his release  by the Gowon  regime in time for him to be Minister Of Finance  during  our civil  war. The  rest is now history  but  the rumblings  in NASS in  Abuja  and at  Aso  Villa   nowadays  show striking  similarities to  the crisis in Ibadan  that  consumed the rest  of  Nigeria.  It   was  a   crisis    that   has railroaded our elusive   search  for  real  democratic  dividends  as we saw   instead  mirages of unfulfilled  promises  from Nigerian  politicians in search  of the el  dorado   to provide  food,   shelter   and  security for  Nigerians    but ended   up   mostly   lining only the purses  and   pockets  of their close,  friends, relatives  and cronies.  It   is  a  sad,    ominous   and disturbing   spectacle, this struggle  for  power  from  within the same   ruling  party  that  has now become a national  concern  to all peace loving Nigerians. It  is an ill wind that  bodes  no  good  and   I  pray  fervently  that  sanity  will  prevail  in the coming weeks or days. For  now I urge  all  politicians and our leaders to remember  the Chinese  saying  that says –  count  no  man  lucky,   until  he is  dead. All   the same   it    is with  this in mind  that I discuss  today’s topic    on  our     titanic   separation of powers’     power struggle   this week   with   illustrations      from  Brazil     and  Turkey    to  show  the consequences  of the  use  and abuse  of  power in these democracies and the lessons therefrom.

    Starting with Brazil the news was that  Brazil’s  former  President Lula da Silva  has been  nominated  and registered as the  presidential  candidate    for his party  at  Brazil’s  next election  this year,  even though  he  is in prison  serving time after  being jailed  for  corruption some time   ago. In  Turkey  President Tayyip  Erdogan  has  called  tariffs against  his nation by US President Donad Trump an ‘economic   coup‘ even  though  he  has refused  to release  an    American   pastor  that  the US president  has asked him  to release or face the consequence,   regardless  of  the fact  that  both  nations  are allies in  the  North  Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO.  I want  to highlight events  in  both Brazil  and Turkey  to  drive home  the import  of the Chinese proverb  that  says – count no man lucky  until  he is dead –  in the case  of  Brazil’s Lula   and   in  Erdogan’s     case to show that  internal  vindictiveness  and retaliation over  a failed coup  can lead to unexpected  and disruptive  economic chaos  for  a leader  whose selling point  in successive elections  he had won in  Turkey  had  been  on the mantra  or claim  of building  a buoyant economy. Again,  count  no man  lucky  till  he is gone  is  our  rallying cry in  this piece.

    Also ,    in the case of Brazil’s Lula  he was a very  successful  socialist president   –  2003  – 2011-  who  led  a workers party to  win elections  in  2002   in  Brazil  and served two  terms,  ending  up anointing  his Chief of Staff  Dilmar  Roussef   as his successor . Lula  was so  popular  and loved   by  Brazilians  for  bringing the    FIFA  World Cup   and     Rio  Olympics   to  Brazil  in   2014  and  2016  respectively. But  he launched an anti  Corruption campaign called  Operation Car  Wash  based on corruption in   Petrobas   Brazil’s oil   giant   like   our NNPC. Eventually  he  too was accused of taking an apartment as a bribe  or kickback  for a contract  and was jailed  in  2017.  At  the  height  of his trial  which he alleged  was political his successor   Dilmar    a woman  made him   her Chief  of Staff to shield him from  prosecution but that has not saved him. Today  even though he has been  again nominated for the presidential  election, he  too knows that as  a convicted person  he cannot  stand  and has realistically  nominated someone else to replace  him. Certainly  in Lula’s case in Brazil as elsewhere  in   any  democracy    in  this wide world, no  condition is permanent.

    Again  with  Turkey’s strongman President  Erdogan   it  is as if  he has become a modern Sultan  of  Turkey  in the mold  of past  Sultans of  the old Ottoman Empire  -which   once  ruled Europe,-   of which  modern  Turkey  is indeed but its carcass. Erdogan  has  used  the failure  of a coup last year  to purge Turkey of his political  opponents. He  has  asked the US to extradite  and old ally, a Muslim cleric living in the US to  face trial  in Turkey  for masterminding the  coup  for which  he has sacked and jailed  thousands of   civil  servants,  and  military  personnel.  But   the US has  refused  insisting the cleric has been a  law  abiding  US resident .  He  has  even  threatened nations having Turkish  schools  for Turks  abroad  like Nigeria  to close  such schools  because  of the coup  and was  roundly   ignored. So  between   Lula   and Erdogan  it is a case of  a fall  from grace to grass  for  one and   a case  of  blinding   and    arrogant  use   of    power  for the other. Yet  for both  you can still  say  loud   and clear  –  count no man  lucky till  he is dead. Once   again  long live the Federal Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • APC to PDP: Explain to Nigerians how you fought corruption

    The All Progressives Congress ( APC ) on Sunday asked the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to explain to Nigerians how it fought corruption for the 16 years it held power when the national treasury was looted.

     

    The party said after presiding over monumental pilfering of national resources, the PDP should have been apologizing to Nigerians rather than presenting itself for elective offices and accusing government of not diligently fighting corruption.

     

    He said the allegation of non-diligence prosecution of the anti-corruption crusade by the Buhari government was part of the diversionary tactics of the opposition to delay the APC government from actualising its mandate.

     

    In a statement entitled “PDP Your Corruption Stench Suffocates Nigerians”, Acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena said unlike the PDP that looted the nation dry for 16 years, the APC will not fail in delivering on its promises to the Nigerian people.

     

    Nabena said despite spirited efforts by the PDP to discredit the anti-corruption efforts, the war is being won, adding that one often overlooked major achievement of the anti-corruption war is that President Buhari has brought the issue of corruption to the heart of national consciousness.

     

    The statement reads: “Although the opposition in a democracy is supposed to offer constructive criticisms and proffer alternative solutions to government policies and programmes, the opposition rhetoric of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is nothing but senseless noise-making, in its failed attempt to distract the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

    “In both content and context, PDP’s latest allegations on President Buhari administration’s anti-corruption efforts should be seen for what they are: empty, baseless and diversionary.

    “It is truly amazing that that the party of a failed government which held the country prostrate for 16 years; stole, wasted and misappropriated our abundant resources will have the audacity to make comments on the current administration that within three years is clearing the rot left after the PDP’s misrule.

    “Was it not under the PDP’s immediate-past administration that disclosures of nauseating magnitude were made”

    Nabena listed such disclosure to include:

    • I collected N350m from Dasuki for consultation – Iyorchia Ayu
    • I only collected $30,000 from Dasuki not N100m – Bode George.
    • I got N4.6b from Dasuki for spiritual purposes – Bafarawa.
    • I got N2.16 from Dasuki for publicity purposes – Dokpesi.
    • I got another N100m from Yuguda. He did not tell me from where – Bafarawa
    • I gave N100m each to Odili, Jim Nwobodo, Bode George and others – Yuguda.
    • The President asked to change N10b to foreign currency for PDP delegates – Dasuki.
    • N950m was shared in my house – Shekarau

    He said further: “These are just a tip of the iceberg of how our commonwealth were massively looted by the shameless characters in the PDP. Instead of apologizing profusely for their gang rape of the nation, the PDP seeks to present itself before Nigerians in 2019 to seek a return to their stealing. The PDP should understand that Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry how the country was destroyed by the PDP’s gang of pen robbers.

    “The PDP may wish to explain to Nigerians under which administration a State Governor who was set free in many courts in Nigeria on charges of corruption and money laundering was tried and jailed in the United Kingdom.

    “Is it not ironic that the PDP preaches about corruption in the oil sector when it infact oversaw record pillage, maladministration and disrepair of the oil sector when it held sway.

    “The PDP should remind Nigerians the circumstances under which the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), now Emir of Kano, lost his job in the bank. How many millions of dollars did he say was not remitted to the nation’s coffers on regular basis?

    “The PDP may also explain the fuel subsidy scandals and how billions of the country’s funds went into private pockets; the massive seizures of properties and cash from public officers who served in the PDP Government.

    “In 2015, Nigerians voted massively for the establishment of a truly progressive government to check the shocking level of impunity, corruption, disregard for the rule of law and other deplorable undemocratic practices which previously defined our national life. The APC assures all Nigerians that the President hold sacred this collective trust.

    “Despite spirited efforts to discredit on-going anti-corruption efforts, the war against graft is being won. An often overlooked major achievement of the anti-corruption war is that President Buhari has brought the issue of corruption to the heart of national consciousness.

    “The fact that Nigerians are talking about it means we have not accepted it as a way of life and as long as ordinary people continue to show that disdain for corruption, we would win the war sooner or later.

    “Under President Buhari, the country has never had it so good. Yearly remittances by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) have been in billions of Naira, over and above what PDP governments remitted in 16 years; increasing yearly revenue from the Customs Service; within three years and despite low oil prices, execution of massive road and rail infrastructure while our foreign reserves has grown to over $47 billion- about $4billion more than that of South Africa.

    “Under the administration of President Buhari, no minister will purchase bullet proof cars with public funds, nor will an oil minister junket the globe with family members in private jets at the public expense.

    “Nigerians were taken for granted for too long and have vowed that enough is now enough. No degree of blackmail and wicked scheming will make us return to the years the locusts have eaten. We have crossed the Red Sea and have no intention to return to our ugly past.

    “While the PDP and their agents attempt to discredit the ongoing fight against corruption, the question the PDP should answer is: are anti-corruption efforts being carried out within the ambit of the law?

    “We urge the President, law enforcement agencies, anti-graft bodies and indeed Nigerians not to be sidetracked by the desperate and roguish attempt by the PDP and their agents to discredit the ongoing fight against corruption. It is natural, corruption will fight back!

    “The assurances Nigerians can hold firm is that the APC will not fail the country like PDP’s wasted 16 years. While the PDP continue to spew lies in its cheap attempt at opposition politics, President Buhari is concentrating on the important work at hand – clearing the mess and rebuilding the country in all facets.”

     

  • ‘Good governance panacea for corruption, insecurity’

    A House of Representatives member, Oladipupo Adebutu, yesterday urged Nigerian leaders at all levels to provide good governance to the people.

    The lawmaker said this is the only way to secure their “exalted positions and wealth”.

    He noted that high fences or trenches could hardly secure anybody but would just entrap one in an environment with poor governance.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker representing Remo Federal Constituency in Ogun State, spoke at the Ake Palace in Abeokuta, the state capital, when he met with the Alake of Egba, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, and his chiefs.

    He was at the palace to thank the Egba paramount ruler for his prayer in 2015, when he contested for the National Assembly seat and to seek further blessings from the royal father on his governorship ambition in next year’s elelction.

    Adebutu said good governance would bring genuine growth and development to the people and curb corruption.

    The lawmaker noted that with proper orientation, fear of God and compassion for others, a leader would shun corruption and other vices.

    Adebutu, who was accompanied to the palace by chieftains of PDP in Ogun State, including former Speaker Titi Oseni, said he was frightened by the situation in the state.

    He pledged to translate his good upbringing to “good governance”, if given the mandate.

    According to him, if one has the compassion at heart for others, it would be difficult for one to appropriate collective wealth for personal benefits.

    Oba Gbadebo, who recalled the lawmaker’s quality upbringing, prayed for the success in his aspiration to govern Ogun State in 2019.

    He said: “What you want, God will give you. Your desire to serve your people (Ogun State) shall not be truncated. Let this desire not elude you.

    “Success will be yours and all those following you will not regret. You are somebody well brought up. You will succeed beyond your father.”

  • Police chief warns SFU officers against corruption

    A Commissioner of Police, Nkem Okoro, at the weekend warned officers at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in Ikoyi, Lagos, to shun corruption or be sacked.

    Okoro spoke while decorating 27 officers who were recently promoted by the Police Service Commission (PSC).

    The police chief, who was earlier decorated with his new rank by the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, said he would not tolerate lukewarm attitude and laziness.

    Until his promotion, he was the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) at the SFU in Ikoyi, a unit headed by Ibrahim Lamorde.

    With his new rank, Okoro was appointed as the police commissioner in charge of Anti-Fraud at Alagbon.

    He reminded the decorated officers that SFU was known for its transparency and professionalism, adding: “No senior officer wants to work with a lukewarm personnel. You all must make good names for yourselves in the force.

    “You have to be known as fearless, incorruptible officers. Be strict, decent and professional. Do not disappoint your families or bring the force to disrepute. Be counted among the good eggs.”

     

  • Minister: Buhari’s government committed to fighting corruption

    Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami (SAN) said yesterday that lack of credible leadership by past administrations militated against curbing corruption in the country.

    Malami spoke in Abuja at the Media Merit Award of Excellence organized by the Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI).

    He said: “Several years of lack of credible leadership in the fight against corruption meant that institutions, such as the judiciary and anti-corruption agencies were weakened.”

    But all that, according to him, is now changing as the Buhari Administration  has worked on laws aimed at  strengthening  the fight against corruption.

    He listed the laws as the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Bill, the Proceeds of Crime Bill and the Mutual Assistance in Legal Matter Bill, among others.

    Malami, who was represented on the occasion by the Special Assistant to the President on Justice Sector Reform, Barrister Juliet Ibekiaku-Nwagwu, said:”To reaffirm the government’s willingness to respect human rights laws, President Muhammadu Buhari accorded high priority to compliance with the recommendations of the panel of inquiry set up by the National Human Rights Commission. Although the incident in this case occurred before he came into office, he felt duty bound to ensure that the government of Nigeria would always respect international and national human rights laws.

    ”The victims of the Apo killings that occurred in 2013 were compensated and for the first time in the history of Nigeria, the victims received monetary compensations. This action underscores the fact that the government recognizes the independence of the Human Rights Commission and would continue to comply with their rulings.

    ”Surely, this government is taking several steps to address issues related to human rights violations. Most of the alleged violations arise as a result of the activities of insurgents in the northern part of Nigeria.

    ”In response to the concern of the public about human rights violation by military officials, President Buhari set up the Presidential Investigation Panel to Review Compliance with Human Rights Obligations and Rules of Engagement by the Nigerian Armed Forces. The panel was made up of members of the civil society organizations and the National Human Rights Commission.

    ”It is interesting to note that the panel found that there is no evidence to suggest a systemic violation of human rights of the citizens and/ or non-compliance with rules of engagement by the Nigerian Armed Forces. The panel did advise that individuals who perpetrate human rights violation should be disciplined.

    ”The Nigerian Armed Forces have mechanisms that are in compliance with international laws to sanction officers. It may also interest you to know that the Nigerian military is enjoined by their rules of engagement to act with utmost professionalism in all their operations based on the Geneva.”