Buhari Vows to Kill Corruption

Says EFCC stinks, incapacitated Pledges to secure future

Ernest Chinwo

Onyebuchi Ezigbo The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has said his primary assignment if elected president, in the forthcoming election will be to kill corruption before it kills the nation.

This is as the Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation and Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, said an APC-led federal government under Buhari would transform the amnesty programme to a welfarist project that would remove the guns from the hands of former militants.

Buhari spoke yesterday at a South-south zonal presidential rally of the APC at the Liberation Stadium, Elekahia, in Port Harcourt.

He said monumental corruption in the past 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government as well as the controlled states in the country has retarded the economic growth and development of the country.

His said: “The issue before us is very clear indeed. Please sit in your home, or in small groups, and ask yourselves these questions: How much has accrued to Nigeria in the past 16 years that the PDP has controlled the federal government?

“How much of these funds have trickled down to you as a Nigerian? Whatever answers you arrive at should determine what party and candidate you will vote for on April 11.”

Buhari insisted: “We should not personalise this issue. It is not about Buhari; it is about us; it is about you and me; it is about our children and the future of our children. My fear is that if we don’t kill corruption in Nigeria, corruption will kill us. So, the choice before us is to resolve to kill corruption and free our country from the firm grip of corrupt men and women.

“If those in the PDP, who have been in control of our resources at the centre and in most states of the country, have been responsive and responsible, there would not have so much insecurity and poverty in the country today. If whatever reason, you make a mistake and vote for the PDP at the centre or even in any state, I assure you, you are going to regret it.

“If you chose to vote for the APC at the centre and in the states, you are neither doing me a favour nor your governorship candidate a favour. You will be doing yourself a favour if you vote for the APC. This is our country and what I am telling you today is the truth. Just look at how the naira is tumbling down. Now, our manufacturers need trailer loads of naira to change to dollar to buy raw material and machinery.”

Buhari maintained that he would channel the funds saved from corruption to other productive sectors of the economy.

“We will use the monies realised by preventing corruption to encourage the industralisation of the country, thereby, creating jobs and wealth, he said.”

Buhari maintained that corruption that has severely affected the oil industry has also crept into the energy sector.

“In 16 years, the PDP-controlled federal government has spent over $60 billion in the energy sector, yet we still can’t generate up to 4,000 mega watts of electricity in the country. If you reflect pensively, you will agree that corruption has taken Nigeria backward.”

Also speaking, he added the rally, Amaechi said an APC administration under Buhari would continue with the amnesty programme for ex-militants in the Niger Delta, but with some modification.

“We will add what is not there for now. We will take away the arms with which some prominent politicians have re-armed some of the militants and give them something to do. We will create jobs for them. The amnesty programme will be transformed into a welfarist programme,” he said.

He also said the PDP was against the use of Card Readers that have been introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to verify and authenticate genuine Permanent Voters Cards, (PVCs), “because it will minimise rigging, and the PDP doesn’t want to hear that.

According to Amaechi, “In the South-south and the South-east, we don’t vote during elections, we write election results. But this time, we must vote. In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan got 1.8 million votes from Rivers State. Let him come and take it in 2015. You know I was formally in the PDP, but this is the first time I have seen fear in the eyes of PDP leaders.”

Meanwhile, the APC presidential campaign organisation has described the state of affairs at the country’s leading anticorruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as bad and worrisome.

Addressing journalists yesterday, the campaign organisation’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari is worried about the apparent lull in the operations of the EFCC in recent years.

“Our concern is on the growing attitude of the Jonathan administration in the destruction of national institutions. For instance ,the EFCC has been literally brought to its knees. Since the out of the administration, there has never been any high profile personality convicted.

“This is in stark contrast to the EFCC’s past record, where former governors and other senior public officials accused of defrauding the Nigerian people were tried and prosecuted. Thus, we can safely say that President Jonathan has muzzled the EFCC. He has turned one of our country’s most respected and revered institutions into a toothless bulldog without even as much as a bark.

“As we speak now, there has been sordid stories coming from the agency, salaries of the workers have not been paid. Also information reaching us indicates that there is a lot of in-fighting going on there between top directors.

“The president’s option is to do nothing but cooperate by using the courts of law. But he has not allowed it to function and so, the EFCC is not working,” he said.

Shehu said the difference between the APC and the PDP is that while the opposition party admits that corrupt persons might be within its ranks and is ready to get them to change their ways, the ruling party feels otherwise.

Also addressing a gathering of young people at a programme tagged: ‘Secure the Future: Discussing the Future with the Youth’ in Lagos, yesterday, Buhari said he would explore practical ways to provide gainful employment for the youth, if elected.

He said he would pursue efforts geared at empowering the youths.

The presidential candidate, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), described the youths as the hope and future of the nation, saying he would do his best to secure their future if given the mandate.

He said no nation developed without a functional education system and promised to evolve creative solutions to address some of the challenges in the sector.

Buhari described the security in the North-east and some other parts of the country as worrisome, saying he would confront the issue of security with the grit it deserves.

He said apart from giving priority to the problems of unemployment and insecurity, he would address the issue of corruption, if elected.

“We have identified three things, the first is insecurity; we know what we are going through with Boko Haram, militants and other insecurity issues affecting the country. We will do our best to address that.

“The rate of unemployment in the country has continued to increase since 1999 and if given the mandate, we will arrest the ugly development.

“Also, we need to address the issues of corruption in this country. This is because if we don’t kick corruption out of the country now, it will kick us out,” he said.

The candidate said the objective of the APC was not to get power for the sake of getting it, but to rehabilitate all the sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Buhari urged youths to be part of the change Nigeria required and participate actively in the electoral process.

He challenged youths to take part in the elections and make sure that their votes counted.