Don’t cover up corruption, Sultan, Onaiyekan tell govt

Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar
| credits: File copy

For Nigeria to redeem its image, the Federal Government should stop  covering  up corrupt officials, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Saad Abubakar III, and  Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, have  advised......

But at the 2013 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony organised by Leadership Newspapers in Abuja where the two prominent clerics spoke on Tuesday,  a former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye,  accused President Goodluck Jonathan of accommodating ministers who had previously been indicted for corrupt practices.

Onayeikan who spoke for the two clerics,   said stealing in government must stop and “there should be no cover-up.”

Nigeria, according to him,  “still has enough time to avoid being a failed state”  if corruption and insecurity could be solved with all seriousness they deserve.

He said, “We still have enough time to avoid being a failed state. We need to sustain our great dream. With sincere faith that is possible. When people in government say they are doing their best, they should know that their best is not  enough.

“We have what it takes to succeed. All it takes is leadership that is wise, transparent and sincere.”

Onaiyekan, who spoke on the theme of the conference,  “Rebuilding Nigeria”, said Nigeria needed a radical and substantial reformation in its leadership style.

The former   co-chairman of the Nigeria Inter-religious Council added that the rest of  the black race  was  looking up   to   Nigeria  redeeming  its image.

On  the proposed amnesty for  Boko Haram,  the Cardinal  urged the government to bring  all the stakeholders to the roundtable since the offer was a “healthy”  development.

At the forum,  Melaye took a swipe at Jonathan, saying, “We have ministers that have been indicted by one form of report or the other…..but they still dress in diamond apparel  every Wednesday attending the Federal Executive Council   meeting under the watchful eyes of an unperturbed President.”

According to him, such  people  “will not help to rebuild Nigeria.”

In his lecture, the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, lamented that corruption had permeated nearly all facets  of “our society” and “eaten into the fabrics of the family.”

Aliyu also  flayed the activities of Boko Haram, saying the sect “does not represent Islam.”

“Boko Haram is not a Muslim organisation. If a Muslim commits suicide, he goes straight to hell. If a Muslim kills another man without justifiable reason, the sin of that person is transferred to him. There is no compulsion to the religion of Islam”, he explained.

Appealing  to Nigerians to tolerate their differences and live amicably, the governor called for devolution of power to Local Governments to bring governance closer to the people.

He bemoaned a situation where people sit down in Abuja “and plan for people they don’t know”.

Aliyu  also urged politicians to promote internal democracy so that  people would have the right to choose  their leaders.

“Some people are  a misnomer to the positions they occupy. People must be given chance to elect people they think can do better for them,” he  said.

Aliyu, who is the chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum,  advised ruling parties at the federal and state levels to tolerate the opposition.

He said, “If you have credible opposition, it will keep you on your toes. You will know you can’t take things for granted. You will know you need to consult with the people so that you  can  do the right things  otherwise the opposition will come and take over. Those who do not appreciate the opposition have no business  being  in politics.”

The Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, who chaired the event and his Akwa Ibom State  counterpart, Goodswill Akpabio, however disagreed on who should take the blame for the problems facing the country.

While Okorocha said that “leaders should be held responsible for the crises and challenges in the land,” Akpabio said they should not be singled out for blame.

The Imo State governor added that  Nigerians must begin to choose leaders who  not only  have vision  but  are  ready to  take responsibility for the ills of the nation.

He advised leaders not to shift blame but to come together to solve the Boko Haram problem .

According to him, the  killings by   Boko Haram and other crises are more than those that took place during the Nigerian  Civil War.

Okorocha said, “Leaders must take responsibilities. There are crises all over the world. For us as a nation, we must see these as challenges that developing nations must pass through to get to the point of reference.

“Boko Haram will not overcome us. As a nation, we need to come together to find a solution to this issue of Boko Haram because the bloodletting in this country is more than the one let out during the civil war. Leaders should be held responsible for the crises and challenges in the land.”

He , however, said “all hope is not lost as a nation.”

Disagreeing with him,  Akpabio argued that the problems are a culmination of failure of past leaders.

He said, “It is the business of all of us to solve the problem of insecurity; everyone of us has a role. We must rebuild Nigeria through the media. We must encourage responsible journalism. I will not support forcing of the press. It was the journalists that fought for democracy we are enjoying.

“Some journlaists  did that through struggling and sometimes sacrificing their lives. Journalists must do everything to preserve the democracy they brought about. We must rebuild Nigeria by rebuilding the media.

“For us to rebuild Nigeria, we must accept every religion.”

But the Action Congress of Nigeria National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, described the arrest of Leadership journalists  by the police as “dangerous for the survival of our democracy.”

 He recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government   recently   descended on the media by imposing a fine on a privately- owned Liberty Radio station in Kaduna.

Mohammed said that  a documentary on poverty in the country by the station  was banned by the government.

 He added, “One wonders why the authorities are  interested in knowing the source of a story it had earlier denied. Freedom of expression and press is necessary for citizens popular participation.”

 Mohammed urged the Federal Government to remember that no government in the past had been able to silence the media.

 He also described the attitude of the Federal Government to the opposition as “uncivilised and unacceptable.”