LAGOS—APPARENTLY reacting to the ongoing trial of the Senate
President, Senator Bukola Saraki by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, leader
of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday said the present
administration cannot overlook certain things in its fight against corruption.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Meantime, Tinubu has called on Nigerians to often put God
and the nation first in their daily activities, saying “What is missing in
Nigeria is lack of patriotism, dedication to God and to our people.
Tinubu, speaking after activities for the Eid-il-Kabir
celebration at Dodan Barracks, praying ground, said that the ongoing
anti-corruption war embarked upon by President Muhammadu Buhari will further
strengthen the country’s institutions and fast track development.
This came 48 hours after Saraki appeared before the CCT in
Abuja on September 22nd, 2015, claiming that he was not guilty of the charges
leveled against him by the tribunal.
According to him, “It is part of nation’s development. We
cannot overlook a lot of things. And we cannot personalise a lot of things as
if it was vendetta. We have to endure and be patient as we look for justice,
equity and a balanced society.”
He stated that to achieve a just and balanced society, the
various institutions in the country must be strengthened, adding “If we do not
strengthened these institutions, how can they work for the development of the
nation? If we fail and result to blackmail, how can the nation reverse the
decadence that is perceived in our society?”
Tinubu lamented that citizens often denigrate public officer
as one who mismanage public funds allocated to his office.
The APC leader said: “Government officials are no longer
believed by the citizens. When one has a public responsibility, the citizens
look at it as if the source of wealth to steal and mismanage public funds and
do things not included in the democratic norms and values.
‘We have to live by example and by our words. We can be
talking about it alone. We have to work it without any iota of blackmail.”
The former governor recalled how he went through such trial
and was later discharged and acquainted, saying; “It is not what I haven’t
personally experienced.”
His words: “I have been through it. The second week I left
office, I was invited by Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC. I went
there and answered their questions. Later, I took them to court and I won.
Some years back, after they discovered that my asset declaration
had some questions, they claim. It is only then I accused the government of
being selective.”
He noted that the country had surmounted some challenges but
to avoid a repeat of such, Nigerians must put the nation first and do the right
thing.
Tinubu said: “Yearly, we talk about sacrificecharged me to
the tribunal. I went and challenged them to show proof. I was later discharged
and acquainted because there was no evidence to prove their s and perseverance
of people. If we want people to persevere, from the top to the bottom, we have
to demonstrate as leaders that we are very serious about nation building too.
“Our leaders should look compassionately at the suffering
masses and create the demand locally and diversify our economy. Go through it at
once and have a nation that we will all be proud of. Develop citizenship that
will be blind to tribe or ethnicity but believe in character.
“It is worrisome that when we meet ourselves outside the
country, we embrace one another but immediately we arrive in this country, we
revert to ethnicity, tribalism and others. We have to develop a new character
and new nation.
“Every day we talk about the potential of this country but
where are we, when one looks at a country like India, they don’t have oil but
they were able to build an economy for themselves that is thriving today and
creating employment for the youths.
“We want everything free but we have not put emphasis on the
training of our youths and retraining of our teachers to put education in
forefront of investment that is necessary for this country.
“We still believe that education is the weapon against
poverty. And to achieve it, we have to rededicate ourselves and make those
sacrifices in order to lift the country out of poverty,” he added.
Credit: Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment