In 2015, Nigerians voted for General Muhammadu Buhari because
he vowed to fight against corruption and insecurity. President Buhari recently
celebrated his three years of governing the country. Throughout the years,
anti-graft war was and still remains one of his topmost priorities. His efforts
on the total elimination of corruption have been appreciated more by experts
and political leaders outside the country than in the country. Donald
Trump, President of the United States recently endorsed President’s anti-graft war.
Civil societies, political leaders, especially those from the
opposition, and some citizens believe that President Buhari’s anti-corruption
war is selective and lacking scientific approach. The
criticism has been hinged on the fact that President Buhari is using anti-graft’s
machinery to witch-hunting his opponents and perceived enemies, leaving members
of his ruling party who have been alleged of misappropriating public funds or
misused their offices.
Based on the perceived selective and non-scientific
approaches to the fight against corruption, some
experts believe that President Buhari is at the verge of losing the confidence
of Nigerians. The
current presidential advisory body on corruption is composed of academics among
others, and one would expect that their approach would be scientific and
fundamental. These
approaches are defective and would not produce any serious conviction.
The criticism became tenser recently when the Federal
Government through the Minister of Information and Tourism released Looters’
list. The
release was trailed with severe criticism from the People’s Democratic Party,
the main opposition party. The party in its recent public statement wants the Buhari-led presidency to respond to
allegations that it was elected with looted funds or find itself top of the
list of confirmed looters.
Despite the defects, the pioneer chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, believes that the
anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari is on course. “The
number of cases in our courts today that are being prosecuted diligently, it
tells you what is happening with the EFCC. Anybody can say anything, but, the
responsibility of the EFCC is to investigate cases, build up cases, seize
properties that are subject of investigation and then, go to court.”
With
the jailing of two prominent members of the ruling party, can
stakeholders still believe in witch-hunting opposition members and perceived
enemies? This question is likely to get the right answers when President Buhari
sees to the prosecution of 30
ex-All Progressive Congress governors who have various corruption cases pending
in the Courts.
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