One of the strongest voices among Muslim organisations in the country, the National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations, has faulted the purported church gift made by a Federal Government contractor, Gitto, to the church of President Goodluck Jonathan in his hometown, Otuoke in Bayelsa State.
NACOMYO said such gifts negate the principles of good governance and accountability.
It thus advised individuals and corporate bodies not to allow themselves to be forced into any charity donation by or for political office holders.
NACOMYO, in a statement by its National Secretary-General, Alhaji Kamal’deen Akintunde, said accepting gifts from a contractor by government officials can only weaken their hands in their relationship with the contractors.
The statement said Nigerian leaders can only build trust in the polity and establish good governance by avoiding all forms of corruption and questionable acts.
While it said the church gift to Jonathan falls within the same class as the Presidential Library project of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for which captains of industry, states and local government as well as government parastatals were practically forced to cough out donations, NACOMYO said: “It is by so doing that they can build trust in to the political system and establish good governance which Nigerians are yearning for.
“Of what interest is the Italian company serving or of what purpose is the gift other than to buy undue influence from government?
“NACOMYO insists that Nigerian leaders must be above boards in the discharge of their onerous responsibilities.
“For example, Britons are querying their Prime Minister, David Cameron, for secretly receiving big donations for the ruling Conservative Party from money bags; their fear is that the gesture would compel the government to extend undue favours to the donors which amounts to a corrupt act.”