Akanbi, Ali To Buhari: Fight Corruption With Zeal

The pioneer chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) boss, Justice Mustapha Akanbi and a legal giant, Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN) have urged the president-elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari to commit himself to fight corruption with zeal. The duo gave the advice in separate interviews with newsmen in Ilorin on Wednesday. Akanbi lamented that the PDP-led federal government did not appreciate the enormity of corruption in the country. He added that “it is up to Gen Buhari to let everybody realize that his government will not condone corruption. “I think the people of Nigeria have spoken. They wanted a change and they have got a change. That means he has got the support of the nation; that also means that he has now got an opportunity which had eluded him in the three previous attempts he made. It is now for him to justify the confidence reposed in him by the Nigerian nation. “Today he is the president of Nigeria, although he got it through the instrumentality of his political party, but he is the leader of all of us. Like he himself has confirmed so much has gone wrong. Corruption has escalated and he said he will fight it. He has little time on his hands and he must commit himself to the fight against corruption, because I have always said that corruption is the mother of all crimes. “Secondly, there is the issue of abject poverty and unemployment in the land. Many graduates have resort to doing menial jobs in the land. There is no reason why that should be the case in Nigeria because we have the wherewithal to economically buoyant and strong. And because of that he should start initiating measures that will ensure employment for the youths and graduates so that like can be better for the ordinary people. “There is no reason why we should wallow in poverty because they say we are the largest economy in Africa. Yet people are not feeling the impact of the being the largest economy. “He must surround himself with people of proven integrity, honesty and dedication to improve the level of wealth in this country. I have always asked myself ‘is it possible to make money without being fraudulent?’ I know from what God has done for me that you can make money without being fraudulent. Therefore, I urge him to institute processes where people can become rich without necessarily being fraudulent. “It is always good to put a round peg in a round hole, not square peg in a round hole. In other words, he should get the right people with integrity, people who transparent and honest to surround him to do the work. He should surround him with people who are decent, nationalistic and patriotic to make Nigeria a great country. Africa is looking up to us; the world is looking up to us. It is the first where you have an American President talking to us. A young man for that matter, it is a shame, but it doesn’t matter if we have got ourselves to that lowest ebb. We must rise above that level so that we too can talk to America. After all, there was a time when a Naira and Dollar were at par. Even though he cannot bring it to that level now he should ensure that our economy improves in a manner that we feel proud of our economy. “Now I have also been talking about combating poverty in a greedy, harsh and oppressive environment. The level of greediness, oppression should be reduced. There should be no nepotism. People should be encouraged to realize their ambition. Education should be accorded priority attention, as they say education is the key to progress, development.” On his party, Ali who is said: “The president-elect should see Nigeria as one entity. He should keep Nigeria one as all Nigerians voted for him to get to power. Some people hijack leadership from the hands of some leaders. He should not allow this to happen in his case. “He should also fulfill all his promises to Nigerians. Buhari should be careful and allow people to hijack power or leadership from him. More importantly, he should fight corruption so that sanity and development would come to doorstep of Nigerians.