C Nigeria's unenviable fight against corruption
- Culled from the Nigeria's Sun
December 30 2017 By Abiodun Giwa
President Buhari of Nigeria
He has no choice. He has crossed over to APC. With all the allegations against him by the present APC led federal government, Obanikoro has no choice than to decamp to APC where he believes he will be protected and shielded.
But this is one area I have a quarrel with Buhari’s administration, the moment people who have allegations against them or are being investigated for corruption join APC, then such people are now shielded, and no further actions taken against them. This is not good for the anti-corruption campaign by Buhari. It negates the change agenda.
This is giving Buhari’s government a bad name. He should do something about it. A situation where somebody called Mr Black suddenly becomes Mr White when he crosses to APC is not good for the image of Buhari’s administration. It is not good for the change agenda. I believe in Buhari because of his anti-corruption stance. But I still believe that Buhari will do the needful.
He has no choice. He has crossed over to APC. With all the allegations against him by the present APC led federal government, Obanikoro has no choice than to decamp to APC where he believes he will be protected and shielded.
But this is one area I have a quarrel with Buhari’s administration, the moment people who have allegations against them or are being investigated for corruption join APC, then such people are now shielded, and no further actions taken against them. This is not good for the anti-corruption campaign by Buhari. It negates the change agenda. This is giving Buhari’s government a bad name. He should do something about it. A situation where somebody called Mr Black suddenly becomes Mr White when he crosses to APC is not good for the image of Buhari’s administration. It is not good for the change agenda. I believe in Buhari because of his anti-corruption stance. But I still believe that Buhari will do the needful.
He needs to be stronger. My advice to Buhari is that he should watch it so that he won’t be messed up at last. Why do I say so? If you look at some of the people that are close to Buhari, and some of those people that are part of the alliance that brought him to office, some of these people have cases to answer, some of them their hands are not clean, and that’s why at times it may appear difficult for Buhari to take action in certain cases and certain situations because some of these elements are involved.
I foresaw these happening when they were forming alliance that brought Buhari to office. It was an alliance of strange bedfellows, the good, the ugly and the bad ones. As the saying goes, show me your friend, and I will tell you the kind of person you are, Buhari has to be very careful, otherwise some of these characters will taint his hard earned image.
You can’t say that somebody the whole world believe is corrupt is no longer corrupt today simply because he has supported you. I think Buhari should have asked some of these people to go and do restitution. They should confess their sins and return stolen public fund, their loot.
But returned looted funds should be used to execute one project or the other that will be beneficial to the people. If you say you are saving the money or keeping it somewhere, another person can loot the money.
It is even because Buhari has found himself mixing with some of these elements that is now making some people say that he himself is not clean. This is sad, very sad. Buhari is a man of integrity, he shouldn’t allow some individuals who don’t have clean image to taint him.
Editor's Note: These are the words of Sinatu Ojikutu, former deputy governor in Lagos State, published in the Sun newspaper online. It is a windy and long piece, and one needs to read the entire piece to get this message about how Nigeria has been conducting the war against corruption, embedded in the middle of the piece.
But this is one area I have a quarrel with Buhari’s administration, the moment people who have allegations against them or are being investigated for corruption join APC, then such people are now shielded, and no further actions taken against them. This is not good for the anti-corruption campaign by Buhari. It negates the change agenda.
This is giving Buhari’s government a bad name. He should do something about it. A situation where somebody called Mr Black suddenly becomes Mr White when he crosses to APC is not good for the image of Buhari’s administration. It is not good for the change agenda. I believe in Buhari because of his anti-corruption stance. But I still believe that Buhari will do the needful.
He has no choice. He has crossed over to APC. With all the allegations against him by the present APC led federal government, Obanikoro has no choice than to decamp to APC where he believes he will be protected and shielded.
But this is one area I have a quarrel with Buhari’s administration, the moment people who have allegations against them or are being investigated for corruption join APC, then such people are now shielded, and no further actions taken against them. This is not good for the anti-corruption campaign by Buhari. It negates the change agenda. This is giving Buhari’s government a bad name. He should do something about it. A situation where somebody called Mr Black suddenly becomes Mr White when he crosses to APC is not good for the image of Buhari’s administration. It is not good for the change agenda. I believe in Buhari because of his anti-corruption stance. But I still believe that Buhari will do the needful.
He needs to be stronger. My advice to Buhari is that he should watch it so that he won’t be messed up at last. Why do I say so? If you look at some of the people that are close to Buhari, and some of those people that are part of the alliance that brought him to office, some of these people have cases to answer, some of them their hands are not clean, and that’s why at times it may appear difficult for Buhari to take action in certain cases and certain situations because some of these elements are involved.
I foresaw these happening when they were forming alliance that brought Buhari to office. It was an alliance of strange bedfellows, the good, the ugly and the bad ones. As the saying goes, show me your friend, and I will tell you the kind of person you are, Buhari has to be very careful, otherwise some of these characters will taint his hard earned image.
You can’t say that somebody the whole world believe is corrupt is no longer corrupt today simply because he has supported you. I think Buhari should have asked some of these people to go and do restitution. They should confess their sins and return stolen public fund, their loot.
But returned looted funds should be used to execute one project or the other that will be beneficial to the people. If you say you are saving the money or keeping it somewhere, another person can loot the money.
It is even because Buhari has found himself mixing with some of these elements that is now making some people say that he himself is not clean. This is sad, very sad. Buhari is a man of integrity, he shouldn’t allow some individuals who don’t have clean image to taint him.
Editor's Note: These are the words of Sinatu Ojikutu, former deputy governor in Lagos State, published in the Sun newspaper online. It is a windy and long piece, and one needs to read the entire piece to get this message about how Nigeria has been conducting the war against corruption, embedded in the middle of the piece.
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