Nigeria\u2019s minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said on
\nTuesday that those who have been under heat of the anti corruption war
\nfrom President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s administration are now fighting back
\n\u201chard and dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Information minister who said while briefing journalists in Abuja to
\nfurther solicit the support of the media for the anti-corruption war noted
\nthat the enemies of the anti graft war have started to use media and other
\nplatforms to cut the ground off the battle against graft.<\/p>\n
The Minister said such attacks have come in the form of well orchestrated
\nattacks of the President, his policies, the 2016 budget as well as
\nridiculing the anti graft war itself on various media platforms.<\/p>\n
Mohammed however said the good news is that the Buhari administration is
\nwinning the war while Nigerians are now talking more about corruption. He
\nalso said the Buhari administration will not be distracted in the war
\nagainst graft, no matter the level of distractions by those opposed to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I can tell you today that corruption is already fighting back, and
\nit is fighting hard and dirty.<\/p>\n
\u201cSponsored articles have started appearing in the newspapers and on the
\nsocial media, while \u2018Talking Heads\u2019 have started making the rounds on
\nelectronic media, all deriding the fight against corruption as well as
\nthis administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot stopping there, they have been creating distractions by sponsoring
\narticles in both local and international media to deride the
\nadministration\u2019s policies generally, tag the President a budding dictator
\nand even write off his 2016 budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that the sole purpose of these attacks is to distract attention
\nfrom the war on corruption,\u201d Mohammed said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is saddening that some otherwise credible voices have unwittingly
\nallowed themselves to be railroaded into the bandwagon of pro-corruption
\norchestra. They engage sophistry to try to rally Nigerians against the
\nanti-corruption battle.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne hack writer even said the disclosure that 55 Nigerians allegedly
\nstole 1.34 trillion naira between 2006 and 2013 did not trigger any anger
\namong Nigerias! A disclosure that made the front page in over a dozen
\nNigerian newspapers, played widely in the international media and
\nattracted the attention of the world\u2019s most powerful country and global
\nfinancial institutions cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, one of those who benefitted from the Dasukigate even had the
\ntemerity to deride the anti-corruption war as \u2018selective\u2019, when in saner
\nclimes, he should have been so ashamed of himself that he would have
\napologized to the nation and hunkered down\u2026for good,\u201d the Minister who
\nsaid the sponsored attacks are not about to stop said.<\/p>\n
He added that the attacks are likely to become more intense and more
\ncoordinated in the days ahead.<\/p>\n
The Minister noted that Nigerians who he said are now counting the cost of
\ncorruption to their lives should not be taken in by such disinformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe call on Nigerians not to be taken in by the antics of the sponsored
\ndenunciation of the anti-graft war. The treasury looters, who have so much
\nresources in their kitty, and their cohorts will throw everything but the
\nkitchen sink at this administration. But we have no doubt that Nigerians
\nare discerning enough to know the truth which, in the words of President
\nMuhammadu Buhari, is that unless Nigeria kills corruption, corruption will
\nkill Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n
While emphasizing the cost of corruption to Nigeria and Nigerians over the
\nyears, the Minister recalled how the 2.1 billion dollars meant for the
\nfight against Boko Haram was diverted to other uses, including over 4
\nbillion Naira for spiritual purposes, 13 billion Naira for Maritime
\nUniversity land, 2.1 billion Naira for publicity and hundreds of millions
\nof Naira for political patronage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat explains why we lost many soldiers to the fight against Boko Haram,
\nwhich in turn created many widows and orphans, in addition to pushing
\nmillions of Nigerians from their communities into IDP camps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis explains why the war dragged on for years until President Buhari
\nassumed office and, within just seven months, strengthened the capacity of
\nthe military to decimate Boko Haram. It is also instructive that not one
\nof those who disbursed or collected the Dasukigate funds has denied giving
\nor collecting the money, even though they have given different reasons for
\ndoing so,\u201d Mohammed said.<\/p>\n
He also noted that whereas Nigeria\u2019s national budget has increased from
\njust over 900 billion naira in 1999 to over 6 trillion naira in 2016,
\npoverty has also increased almost by the same proportion because
\nappropriated funds have mostly ended up in the pockets of a few looters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the money meant to construct roads are looted, the end result is
\nthat the roads are not built and the people suffer and even die in
\navoidable road accidents. When the money meant to provide electricity is
\nlooted, we all are perpetually sentenced to darkness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the money meant for healthcare is pocketed by a few, we are unable
\nto reduce maternal and infant mortality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the costs of corruption. Let us not just talk about corruption
\nin the abstract, let us be counting its cost to our lives, in order to
\ndrive home the point that corruption must be tackled decisively for
\nNigerians to feel the impact of governance.<\/p>\n
The Minister also said the accusation that the government is dwelling too
\nmuch on the war against corruption is not true because the situation is
\nvery grim indeed, as far as corruption is concerned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we will not relent in prosecuting this war until we have
\ndecimated the monster of corruption just like we did to Boko Haram and
\nEbola.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis administration will neither be distracted nor intimidated by anyone
\ninto abandoning or weakening the fight against corruption, which is a war
\nof survival for our nation. No amount of media or other attacks will stop
\nthe fight. The pseudo-analysts and hack writers will labour in vain in
\ntheir quest to stop the train of this anti-corruption fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me restate, for emphasis, that when we give instances of
\nmind-boggling acts of corruption, our intention is not to vilify anyone
\nbut to sensitize Nigerians as to how harmful corruption is to the country
\nand the people. The truth is that what we have revealed so far is nothing
\nbut the tip of the iceberg. Nigerians should stay tuned for more shocking
\nrevelations in the days ahead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria\u2019s minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said on Tuesday that those who have been under heat of the anti corruption war from President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s administration are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n