Those corrupt personalities, according to the president, are merely masquerading as angels because they want to be insulated by attacking the government.
Speaking inside the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday while swearing in a new commissioner of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Bako Abdullahi, Jonathan contended that only corrupt personalities were saying his body language showed that he was not fighting corruption.
Tambuwal had specifically lampooned the executive arm, headed by Jonathan, for allegedly failing to act on corruption cases exposed by the National Assembly. The opposition All Progressive Congress and many activists had also expressed worries in the past that the president was condoning corrupt practices in his government.
Jonathan said: “The society is so funny that these days, anybody who wants to claim any element of credibility at all will go to the television and attack government for corruption. The president’s body language shows that he is not fighting corruption or he is not ready to fight corruption.
“And sometimes, it is even the very corrupt people that are making these statements because if you attack government, you are insulated, you become an angel. If you want to be an angel, just attack the government so that whatever you have done is covered.”
The president wondered why his administration was being accused of not fighting corruption despite the recent publication of the 250 convictions by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), saying that before the publication, many Nigerians did not believe that the EFCC was going to work.
The president, who said he believed the anti-graft agencies in the country were working, however charged them to prove to Nigerians that they were actually doing so.
He said the activities of the anti-corruption bodies are ordinarily not supposed to be pronounced too loud because a situation where about 200 Nigerians were jailed for corruption charges are not worth celebrating.
“In a situation when you secure convictions, you should be able to tell Nigerians from time to time so that people appreciate that these two agencies are working. I know you are working, but not everybody knows you are working,” Jonathan emphasized.
Source: Daily Trust
No comments:
Post a Comment