The current rating of the Transparency International is not the fault of the present administration but due to decade\u2019s endemic corruption in our polity. Therefore the statement by Action Congress\u2019 Lai Mohammed, placing the blame for\u00a0 rating of Nigeria as the 35th most corrupt nation, at the door step of the President Goodluck Jonathan\u2019s administration, is preposterous , and lacking in credibility, and can only be best described as pure political mischief.<\/p>\n
Lai Mohammed of all people, being a member of the Action Congress, knows they, in the Action Congress\u00a0 live in\u00a0 glass houses and should not throw stones because his party is home to some of the most notoriously corrupt Nigerians ever. He should not throw stones just to score cheap political points. His party has no moral leg it can stand to pontificate about corruption.<\/p>\n
Nigerians are not fools and cannot be fooled for too long that there is endemic corruption within the rank and file of his party,. It is an undeniable fact that corruption is major challenge to the nation and its people, and everyone agrees it is endemic and has been with us for over three decades.<\/p>\n
Few days ago we spelt out factual details of commendable efforts of this administration in fighting corruption and also confirming the demonstrable political will of this administration to take up this onerous challenge.<\/p>\n
Critics of this administration appear to be deliberately undiscerning, confusing incidences of corrupt practices unraveled by this administration, and legal steps being taken by the administration, as being corrupt practice of the same administration.<\/p>\n
Part of this mischief and attempt to bring opprobrium on this administration is the assertion by President of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin. She said N5 trillion was stolen under Jonathan, and that \u201c the non-implementation of the Farouk Lawan report as well as the Nuhu Ribadu Presidential Task Force findings has completely killed the fight against corruption in Nigeria\u201d<\/p>\n
The above firstly calls\u00a0 to question her respect for facts because it is a fact that the Lawan report has been handed over to the EFCC, and there are ongoing prosecution deriving from this, while the President just set up a white paper committee on the Ribadu report. How do you implement a report without a white paper?.<\/p>\n
We reiterate that the conclusion that N5 Trillion was stolen under President\u2019s Jonathan\u2019s watch is gross misinformation and absolute falsehood. Nowhere in the Ribadu was that conclusion reached . It never happened, and it is wholesomely untrue.<\/p>\n
We want to state categorically, for the umpteenth time that it was this administration that exposed the oil subsidy scam, the pension scam, and also set up\u00a0 the Nuhu Ribadu committee to look into the rot in the oil sector.<\/p>\n
We must state that the fight against corruption is not a short boxing bout, but a long fight that will be systemic, strategic and institutional. The role of the judiciary in bringing culprits to justice cannot be underestimated in the war against corruption. No matter the Federal Government\u2019s commitment , the President has no power to jail any suspect by presidential fiat. Therefore he should not\u00a0 be made a scape goat for the failure of other arms of government\u00a0 who fail to judiciously discharge their responsibilities.\u00a0 It is also not true that lack of funding is stalling the fight as concluded by Chairman, Coalition Against Corruption, Debo Adeniran. We must not forget what the\u00a0\u00a0 EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde said recently about how judges and lawyers stall trials of high profile suspects.<\/p>\n
The two trials of James Ibori in Nigeria and the United Kingdom fully underscore this point.<\/p>\n
The Federal Government, mindful of this judicial stumbling block, has put together a bill to reform the criminal justice system, so that justice will no longer be evaded through sundry abuses of court processes.<\/p>\n
We assure Nigerians that in spite of the persistent and perplexing mischief of deceitful politicians,\u00a0 and some unpatriotic Nigerians who never sees good in whatever government does, the administration will continue its unrelenting fight\u00a0 to rid our society of this menace.<\/p>\n
This is a war the President has set for himself and he has demonstrated the will and capability to prosecute same.<\/p>\n
Dr Doyin Okupe
\nSenior Special Assistant to the President on\u00a0 ( Public Affairs)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The current rating of the Transparency International is not the fault of the present administration but due to decade\u2019s endemic corruption in our polity. Therefore the statement by Action Congress\u2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pointblanknews-investigations"],"yoast_head":"\n