Buhari Administration Has Lost Fight Against Corruption Says CSO
The Civil Society Organisation(CSO), Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), has revealed that one of the major tragedies of the nation was that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, which came into office on the pretext that it was ready to fight corruption, has sunk neck-deep into the same corruption it claimed it was ready to fight.
The Executive Director of the organisation, Comrade Dr. Zikirullahi Ibrahim who was speaking during a press briefing on the state of the nation recently, noted that Buhari’s administration has lost its way, thereby leaving the national treasury at the mercy of the very mindless looters, which the Nigerian people hoped would be sent packing from all aspects of governance.
He added that the loss of political will and the serious collapse of the moral ground on which the current administration would have fought corruption to a decisive end will be seen from the government’s act of condoning clearly corrupt characters within its own fold.
“If this were not so, the sleazy and scandalous revelations coming out of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), would have meant many big thieves cooling their heels in cells of anti-corruption agencies, in readiness for judgment day at the courts.
“There is no mistaking the fact that corruption is winning because the same government which has failed to investigate weighty allegations against some of its very senior officials has been quick to suspend the Acting Chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, on grounds of alleged corrupt enrichment,” he said.
Ibrahim lamented that even as Nigerians continue to struggle with the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has chosen to hike fuel (PMS) price and impose levies for other critical services.
“At the last count there have been unjust, and unpopular moves to hike electricity tariffs, raise the fares for train services, and impose a six per cent stamp duty for transactions relating to rent payment. These charges and fees are being imposed in the face of multiple taxes, and informal levies, which have become a basis for Nigerians, including market women, and artisans struggling to make ends, to be swindled on a regular basis,” he said.
