President Goodluck Jonathan began his re-election
campaign in Lagos on Thursday, saying he would not fight
corruption by arresting and putting people in crates.
Jonathan, in his 33-minute speech that centered more on
responses to criticisms of his administration by some
prominent Nigerians and the opposition, faulted a recent
statement credited to the APC presidential candidate,
Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, that he would send corrupt
Nigerians to jail.
Although he did not mention names, he was indirectly
making reference to Buhari’s role in the 1984 botched
attempt to smuggle a former Transport minister, the late
Umaru Dikko, to Nigeria.
He said, “They said they will start fighting corruption after
they have crossed the bridge. And only two days ago,
somebody stood in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and said he
would catch people that steal and throw them in Kirikiri
(Prisons).
“I agree that we must stop corruption but I will not do so by
catching people and putting them in crates and jailing or
killing them. We can’t stop corruption that way.”
The President told the PDP chiefs, members and supporters
at the carnival-like event that held at the Tafawa Balewa
Square in Lagos that “the same mouth says something
from the right and the left, making contradictory
statements.”
Raising his voice, he asked rhetorically,“ Can you trust such
a man ? Are they not deceiving you?
“They want power by all means. All they want to use power
for is to lock up and imprison their enemies,” he claimed,
eliciting thunderous applause from the gathering.
The President also said that if Buhari had effectively fought
corruption between 1983 and 1985 when he was Head of
State, Nigeria would not be grappling with graft today.
He argued that the kind of anti-graft war the APC
presidential candidate was advocating had no place in
today’s democracy.
The President said that instead of fighting corruption by
making arrests, he would structure Nigeria in such a way
that people holding public offices would no longer have
direct access to funds.
Jonathan added that his administration had curbed
corruption in the civil service and the agricultural sector
through the computerisation of payment system.
The President, however, explained that the system caused
the delay in paying federal civil servants December salaries.
He said, “I apologise to those families that suffered
because I believe that for you to fight corruption, you must
take some measures such as establishing institutions. You
don’t just wake up, enter the streets and start arresting
people and showing them on television sets and saying you
are fighting corruption.
“If they had succeeded in fighting corruption, corruption
would not have been with us today. If they had set up
structures to manage resources, in this ICT era, we would
not have been talking about corruption today.
“What happened on the issue of civil servants is something
known as IPIS which is a software for protecting salaries.
Sometimes people steal salaries in some Federal
Government agencies and ministries. They tried to divert
funds meant for some allowances but since the system is
scientific, it shut down. This is the only way that you can
prevent corruption.
“I served in Bayelsa State as deputy governor and governor
for eight years and then vice president and president for
another four years. Within these periods, fertiliser
distribution was an area where both the federal and state
governments spent billions of naira. Less than 10 per cent
of the product got to farmers while the rest was stolen and
sent out of the country. Even the 10 per cent was
sometimes adulterated.
“What did we do? We assembled some young Nigerians
that are IT gurus and developed what we call the Electronic
Wallet. Through the wallet, farmers got fertiliser directly and
nobody is cheating the government again. Is that not a way
to stop corruption?
“If somebody tells you that the best way to fight corruption
is to come and arrest your mother and father and show
them on television, will that stop corruption? In fact, it will
even encourage corruption. We are shooting armed robbers
but is that stopping them? So, arresting people and showing
them on television sets will do nothing. We must set up
institutions and strengthen them in order to prevent people
from stealing public money. That is what we are working
on and we are succeeding.”
Although Jonathan was also short of mentioning names , he
said that Nigeria would become a jungle if some people
who did not believe in the rule of law were allowed to take
over governance.
He said, “They say the government is weak and have no
plan. They say we are weak because they took our fathers,
mothers and uncles and drugged and put them in crates
before flying them to Nigeria. They were intercepted mid-air
by superior powers.
“That even blocked Nigerians from even going to Britain at
a time. The relationship between Nigeria and Britain went
sour and the whole world isolated Nigeria . They say that is
the way to fight corruption. So the moment I suspect your
uncle (of corruption), I can crate him and send them to
Kirikiri (prisons).
“Is that the way to stop corruption? I served with (former
President Umaru)Yar’Adua and he stood by due process
and I also stand by due process.
“Any country that does not obey the rule of law is a jungle.
Do you want Nigeria to be a jungle ? “Immediately I suspect
you of doing something wrong, I will call the police and the
army and throw you into jail. Is that the kind of country you
want? They said to be strong is to jail people
indiscriminately for 300 years. Is that the way to go? A
country is like an industry, it must be managed properly by
people who have grey and white matters upstairs.”
He said the APC was not a democratic party as the
Department of State Service had exposed its plan to clone
Permanent Voter Cards in order to rig the general elections.
Jonathan warned that a vote for the APC was a vote for
backwardness.
In the area of insecurity, Jonathan said Buhari could not
tackle the problem because he contributed to it by failing to
invest in the military when he was head of state.
He said, “They talked about insecurity. Are Nigerians in the
armed forces weak? The problem is that we don’t have
platforms (equipment) and somebody who wakes up and
tells young people that they want to fight insecurity, ask
him: Did he buy one rifle for a Nigerian soldier?
“These people did not buy anything; they refused to equip
the military and there were no helicopters; nothing. Ask
them what they did with their defence budgets and the
whole time they could not equip the military.”
The President said $10bn was not enough to buy
equipment for the military as it usually took years to boost
its capacity. He, however, said he had been able to curb
corruption in the armed forces by eliminating middlemen in
the purchase of arms.
He said, “No country equips its military overnight . Armed
forces are built over the years because even if you spend
$10bn today, you cannot equip the Air Force, the Navy and
the Army. They refused to build their capacity, they
instigated crisis and now they are telling you they can fight
insecurity.
“They said the military is corrupt. When this insecurity
started, we had nothing so to tackle it very quickly, we used
vendors to get equipment. But now, we are doing
government to government arrangement and so there is
nothing like corruption anymore. Is that not the way to fight
corruption? You must prevent people from touching public
money.”
Jonathan said since his generation had failed Nigeria, it
was important for the youths to vote for those who would
invest in their future.
He said it was his dream for the next generation of
Nigerians to fly to the moon.
He said, “Those of my age and above are finished; we are
gone. That is why I am addressing those of you that are
voting for the first time. We believe it is you that will take us
to the moon. My generation has failed, we couldn’t take
Nigeria to the moon.
“Look at what India is doing? I said for us to get to the
moon, our first class graduates should be sent to the best
25 universities in the world for postgraduate studies.
“ So you must vote wisely. They will build prisons for you
but I will build universities for you. I will build primary
schools and secondary schools .”
He said the APC was not on a mission to fight corruption
but to jail their enemies. He, therefore, urged Nigerians not
to vote for the party.
Jonathan laughed at the reported endorsement of Buhari by
the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
He said it was unfortunate that the group which was
responsible for killing Nigerians on October 1, 2010 was the
one identifying with the APC.
He also alleged that MEND jailed leader, Henry Okah, was
paid to kill him in 2010.
Earlier, the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio,
said the alleged missing money from the treasury was a
propaganda tool created by the APC.
Akpabio said, “We (governors) were the ones that told Mr.
President that we should share the 55bn. We said we could
not be saving while our people are hungry. Will you be
saving when your child is in the hospital?
“If your child dies, wouldn’t you be a fool? The money was
shared by the three tiers of government so no money is
missing.”
He did not say if the money was in naira or dollars. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS
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