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| Alhaji Atiku Abubakar |
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has told President Muhammadu Buhari not to blame
the Nigerian system for his failure to fight corruption, but himself.
The president had on Tuesday blamed his inability to fight corruption
on the Nigerian system, when the members of the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) community paid him homage.
But in his reaction, Atiku said that the problem with Buhari’s anti-corruption war is not the system, but the president himself.
According to him, “My immediate response to this is to commend
President Buhari for admitting that he has failed in fighting
corruption. The president has just corroborated Transparency
International, whose latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) shows that
Nigeria is more corrupt today than it was under the previous
administration, having moved 12 places backwards in the CPI, from 136 in
2014 to 148 this year.”
The former vice-president stressed that nothing in the system stops
Buhari from telling Nigerians who owns the billions found in an Ikoyi
apartment.
Atiku noted that while he was the vice-president between 1999 and
2007, the same system was used to speedily convict no less a personality
than an Inspector General of Police (IG), and several others, including
cabinet ministers and other high ranking officials.
Atiku stated: “But my point of departure from the president is in
blaming his failure on the system. I disagree. The system has
challenges, yes, but where there is political will, the system can make
progress.
“Mr. President, the problem with your anti-corruption war is not the system. You are the problem!
“The system allows you to arrest, try and convict your former
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, who was
fingered in a major corruption case, but you chose to let him go scot
free and you demonstrated your tolerance for his corruption by giving
him a prominent role in your re-election campaign and recently welcomed
him to the Presidential Villa with open arms.
“The system allowed you to arrest, try and convict
Abdulrasheed Maina, the biggest ever alleged thief in our civil service
history, who is suspected of looting the pensions of millions of aged
Nigerians. Yet, you chose not to go that route, preferring instead to
recall him, reinstate and double promote him while giving him armed
guards to move about.
“The system allows you to probe the $25 billion NNPC contracts
awarded without due process, but you chose to bury the matter under the
carpet, hoping the Nigerian people will forget about that grand scale
alleged looting exposed by a leaked memo from a member of your cabinet.”
Atiku stated that based on the above statement of facts, he would not
allow Buhari to make Nigeria the scapegoat for his failure, adding:
“Your failure is personal, and not national.”
He stressed that the system did not stop the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) from charging the opposition Governor of
Akwa-Ibom, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, as a co-accused in the case involving the
Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Chairman, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), which is
in a sharp contrast to the treatment meted out to Governor Umar Ganduje
of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
Atiku asserted: “If you could go abroad to insult Nigerian youths as
lazy, why did you go to Paris to praise a governor who was caught
red-handed receiving bribes on camera?
“Besides, your excuse is deceptive, because you have staunchly
resisted restructuring. If you really believed that the system is the
problem, you would have embraced restructuring.
“Unfortunate as your admitted failure in the war on corruption is, it
is your economic policy that is the greater failure. Your lack of ideas
and your politicisation of the corruption war has made your
administration fight legitimate businesses and the opposition.”
The former vice-president said that it was such actions that have led
to an unprecedented capital flight which caused joblessness and made
Nigeria the world headquarters for extreme poverty under Buhari’s watch.
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