Buhari is not fighting corruption- Aribisala

Sagay Ezekwesili, Aribisala clash at round-table
on corruption war
By Wahab Abdullah & Gbenga Oke
Scholars and legal experts yesterday in Lagos
disagreed over the war against corruption by the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The roundtable which was organised by the
Department of Jurispudence and International
Law tagged “Winning the War Against Corruption”
had in attendance keynote speakers which
includes; Prof Itse Sagay, Mr Femi Aribisala, Mr
Femi Falana who was represented by Wahab
Shittu and Dr Oby Ezekwesili.
Speaking at the event, Mr Femi Aribisala
described the current fight against corruption by
the Buhari administration as selective and only
targeting members of the Peoples’ Democratic
Party (PDP).
His words, “Before the 2015 elections, we do not
have any party presenting us with an anti-
corruption mandate. The All Progressives
Congress, APC, can be called a makeover of the
PDP and since they moved over, they are no
more corrupt because they are now in APC. So
as far as I am concerned, there was no mandate
to fight corruption.
“If President Buhari really meant to fight
corruption, he will not form an alliance with the
people who he despised before. So today, I don’t
know who is fighting the corruption.
“We have to make up our minds if we really want
to deal with the question of corruption. If we
want to deal with the question of corruption,
Nigerians themselves must insist on it and we
have to deal with it at the institutional level. The
institutional fight against corruption that has
taken place to the extent that it has, took place
under PDP. The institutional structures, even the
ones that the present government is relying on
are PDP structures”.
Aribisala further stressed that the budget
padding by some government institutions under
the watch of the President is part of the
corruption.
“If we have this issue of budget padding and
after revealing it, you then passed the budget
and Nigerians do not know what is in the new
budget, you cannot talk of fighting corruption
because the budget controversy lacks
transparency.”
Reacting to Aribisala’s comment, Chairman of
the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-
corruption, Prof Itse Sagay, in his own comments
however said the roundtable should not be
turned to a PDP campaign ground.
Sagay who was visible angered by Aribisala’s
comment said; “How can someone come here
and say there is no fight against corruption and
everybody will be clapping? The APC had a
manifesto and it was clearly written how APC
will fight corruption. So people here should not
show ignorance”
Sagay went further to caution Aribisala on
making statements devoid of facts.
“You don’t take corruption war to a meaningless
point. This is a serious discussion. So if Aribisala
is anti-government, he should campaign for his
party, the PDP to come back in 2019."
He stressed further, “ICPC and EFCC were
created by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and
they are doing well, so we don’t need to create
new institutions. You do not win a war by just
creating multiplicity of institutions everywhere,
that’s irresponsible”.
In his submission, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), said
there is need to create special courts to handle
corruption cases.
According to him, creation of special courts for
corruption cases will make the anti-corruption
war more efficient.
Also speaking, a former World Bank Vice
President, Dr Oby Ezekwesili said there is no
comedy going on rather the youths should rise up
to fight against corruption.
According to her, corruption is demonstrated at
various levels of government and all works of
life.
“For example, everybody was applauding
Aribisala after he spoke, the reason why you
clapped was because some of you are in your
own level of corruption.
“Many of you students whose exams are around
the corner are preparing for malpractices. When
we talk about the need to wage war on
corruption, many people are disconnected
completely from what we are talking about” she
stated.
“You need to be driven by the evidence of the
damage and the destruction that corruption is
doing to you at the unit level. If you think you
are doing well now, you will do exceedingly
better if corruption is effectively tackled in this
society,” she said.