A non-governmental organization has urged Nigerians not to support the approach suggested by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee on how President Muhammadu Buhari should handle the investigation of corrupt public officers.
According to Civic Duties Awareness Initiatives, the advice given by the Committee that President Buhari should not waste his time fighting corruption alone was capable of diverting attention from the damages corruption has inflicted on the country.
The Executive Director of the NGO, Benjamin Oyekunle, at a media interactive session on Thursday in Abuja, said being entrenched, the perpetrators would stop at nothing to make a nonsense of the anti-corruption fight.
Oyekunle said: “It is in this light that we cannot support the recent call by some elderly, respectable and eminent citizens on the President not to waste his time on fighting corruption alone.
“It is our informed view that given the resources available at the moment no developmental project or administrative area has suffered neglect under this government.
“We believe and rightly so that there is no time spent on fighting graft that is not worth it. The President is on the right path. Anti-graft war is needed, it is needed now.
“For Nigeria to develop, corruption must be eradicated. All hands must be on deck in this just cause.”
Oyekunle said all Nigerians should be involved and vigilant as the perpetrators would, among other means, employ mob actions against public officers that are already fighting corruption in their organizations.
Citing the case of the Director General of the Industrial Training Fund, Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, who was on the entourage of President Buhari to the United States, the group regretted that those that wanted the status quo to remain would stop at nothing to discredit diligent public officers.
The group said: “It has been noted that when you fight corruption, corruption fights back. Vigilance is therefore of utmost importance against all reactionary tendencies.
“The people who have emptied our collective purse are still bent on diverting the national resources to their private pockets have a large war chest.
“They are ready to spend huge sums to truncate the anti-graft war. They are the ones alleging partiality and selectivity.
“They can use anybody as their mouthpiece even without the person being aware they are being used for a wrong cause.
“There are those who would also want to make a nonsense of this justifiable cause by attempting to make a caricature of it. Shouting wolf where none exists.
“Others perhaps would want to cash in on the government’s stance against corruption.
“They are ready to spend huge sums to truncate the anti-graft war. They are the ones alleging partiality and selectivity.
“They can use anybody as their mouthpiece even without the person being aware they are being used for a wrong cause.
“They want to manipulate the process to their favour through mob action and smear campaigns aimed at pulling down public servants who are above board and have been impediments to dipping their hands into the public treasury.
“We view this as a deliberate attempt by mischief makers to rubbish the modest achievements recorded by her since assuming office in 2014.
“The fund was alleged to be enmeshed in corruption prior to her becoming the DG. There are those who had been feeding fat on the fund who she blocked.
“Her transparent management of the fund was said to have boosted the confidence and garnered support from the stakeholders.
“Mrs Onaeko is a young mother of two and a dutiful wife. Her competences and ability were recently recognized by no other person than President Muhammadu Buhari when he included her in his lean entourage to the United States of America.
“Some have reasoned that her enviable feat in the course of her duties might have endeared her to the President who might have penned her name down for a higher appointment.
“They opined that the above reasons could be why some who want her position as DG of ITF or scheming to get a ministerial slot are fighting her for.
“The allegations against Mrs Onaeko and some others that are already fighting corruption should be dismissed for what they are, concocted and fabricated lies based on hearsay against innocent public officers.”