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‘Presidency Plans to Bury Ribadu Report and Cover up Corruption’

By on November 7, 2012

 

The presidency has been accused of directly conniving with the actors involved in the faceoff of the Nuhu Ribadu-led committee to rubbish the outcome and prevent the administration from accepting and implementing the recommendations.

 

This claim was made by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, that the drama was masterminded by the same government that set it up to dislodge the report.

 

He said, “The purpose of what the government did was simply to divert Nigerians’ attention from the monumental looting by certain well placed individuals and top government agencies so as have justification for not implementing it.

 

“These elements are well connected and the government does not appear to be in a hurry to touch them given the weight of the evidence in both the Ribadu report and the Subsidy panel against them.”

 

Malami said it was not normal for the Presidency to put together a committee to probe the infractions in the oil sector only for the same government to disagree on the outcome.

 

He queried that under normal circumstances the President would have allowed Ribadu to hand in his report and asked for any other dissenting opinion on the matter, subsequently.

 

“The drama we saw was so clear that the government had planned to discredit the report turned in by the former EFCC chairman and it does not help this country in any way.”

 

Speaking on the political tussle in the country Malami, who is the National Legal Adviser of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, stressed that Nigerians should forget region and religion in their choice of the next president and focus on the capacity and capability of the person involved in the interest of the country.

 

Malami said, “No sectional presidency can salvage this country from its present decay and despondency. What we really need is a man who has the courage and the determination to confront the menace of corruption and insecurity that has stifled the nation’s progress.”

 

He dismissed as a waste of time and resources the current move to amend the Nigerian Constitution, adding that the Nigerian problem was not in the constitution.

 

He said Nigeria will continue to drown if the country fails to tackle corruption or amends the constitution repeatedly.

 

He called on the government to reduce the cost of governance considerably to free some funds for the development of the critical areas of the economy and human resource, adding that majority of the citizens were cut in serious poverty.

 

“We should continue with Federalism but reduce the cost centres to the barest minimum by making government highly unattractive at all levels. All expenses associated with all tiers of government should be slashed substantially while accountability should be strengthened at all levels.

 

“We do not really need a full time National Assembly, which has taken a lot of our resources at the moment while the Executive should cut down on several areas of waste and save the money to improve the welfare of the majority of Nigerians who are languishing in squalor.”

2 Comments

  1. Sunped

    November 7, 2012 at 8:17 am

    This is good talk.

  2. Ahmad Bala Adamu

    November 7, 2012 at 10:59 am

    Come to think of it, do we really need a full time National and State assemblies
    ?