…As Sowore, Fasua, others speak on tackling menace
Marcus Fatunmole (Abuja)
All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday shunned a debate organized by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) to enable parties, especially their presidential candidates, speak on how they would tackle corruption in the country, if elected into office in next month general elections.
Six political parties were invited to the debate namely the APC, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP); Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP); African Action Congress (AAC); Young Progressive Party (YPP); and Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN)
While two of the five political parties that honoured the debate had their presidential candidates, others were represented by their chieftains.
Tope Fasua, presidential candidate of ANRP was present, so also was Omoyele Sowore of the AAC. PDP was represented by spokesperson, Atiku Presidential Campaign, Kazeem Afegbua; YPP its national publicity secretary, Olawale Martins; and ACPN was represented by its national secretary, Paul Isamadi.
The debate was tagged #Big Debate: Corruption and Accountability and was supported by the McArthur Foundation.
Though he was the second the speak, Sowore lampooned the APC and claimed the reason the party failed to turn up was because it was waiting to commit the “biggest corruption” in the country in coming weeks, which he described as vote-buying.
“The reason corruption is endemic is because of the way our political parties are formed, it is because of the way they are funded, it is because of the way they recruit their candidates. Interestingly, the only party that did not come to this debate today is supposed to be the party that fights corruption.
“But, they are not here because they are going to perpetrate the biggest corruption in the next few weeks. That is vote-buying. That is political corruption that is going to destroy democracy. I’m talking about the All Progressives Congress (APC),” said Sowore.
He said he had expected presidential candidate of the APC and incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari to “come and explain to us how he is going to fight corruption, when his party has some of the most corrupt persons in Nigeria who are being celebrated in their party.”
Fielding questions thereafter, the AAC presidential candidate said to tackle corruption in the civil service, he would pay minimum wage of N100,000 and fully make those who yet steal public resources face the law.
He challenged government to let the nation’s citizens know how much is in the Treasury Single Account and make all public funds known to the citizens.
He said his party is committed to making agriculture a pride in the nation by ensuring only foods made in the nation are consumed. He vowed to ban genetically foods if elected president.
Besides, the US-based publisher of Sahara Reporter argued there was no need for the country to operate bicameral legislature. He cited Senegal and South Korea as nations operating unicameral legislature and resultantly prospering.
The ACC candidate decried the manner anti-corruption institutions in the nation approach trials of suspected offenders.
According to him, if the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wants to try anyone it suspects to have committed a crime, it would seek presidency’s nod before any action could be taken against the suspect. Sowore said only the presidency determines who is tried, while suspects who seek refuge in the presidency receive protection from being investigated and tried.
He capped his comments by revealing that in his party’s choice of prudence and probity, the ACC had 3,999,000 in its account, while it had spent less than a million naira on 33 states it had visited.
He also revealed that he had received 99,000,000 as support from donors for his presidential bid.
The former UNILAG SUG however caused stir, and he was accused of breaking debate rules on name-calling by the moderator. He had some heated arguments with representative of the PDP.
Speaking at the debate, representative of ACPN, Chief Paul Isamadu, said what aggravates corruption in the country was because corrupt people are always in charge of the nation’s resources.
He also said enforcement of anti-corruption laws are usually dramatized and eventually does not yield positive results.
“We tackle corruption by strengthening all the institutions that are supposed to prevent corruption. Corruption is an endemic problem to Nigeria,” he said.
He promised that his party would fight corruption “from its roots if gained power.” He said the nation doesn’t reward excellence, and that his party would reward excellence, if elected into power to enable people stay away from corruption.
The ACPN secretary noted that the nation could afford free education if it curbs excesses among its leaders.
He said it was in his party’s constitution that members of his party who win public offices must openly declare their assets before Nigerians.
For the PDP, Afegbua said tackling corruption is a collective responsibility of the nation’s citizens. “We will not subscribe to the idea of seeing government as one industry fighting corruption for the people. It has to be deliberate, conscious effort to conscientize and mobilize Nigerians to own their country, to know that this country is not the property of certain category of persons,” he stated.
He said government could only set up relevant institutional frameworks that would help to mitigate the incidences of corruption.
He reiterated the party’s determination to restructure the nation. He said with the restructuring, government would ensure that local government areas are empowered to offer needed health care among other basic needs.
He explained that his party would strengthen anti-graft agencies, the police and related institutions of government for effective performances.
Meanwhile, Tope Fasua of the ANRP said: “Nigerians are agitating because of a fact: in the past 20 years, in our new experiment of democracy, we have been oppressed, traumatized, dehumanized by certain set of people. And, those certain set of people are in this parties that we are talking about.
“The fact that Nigeria has emerged, according to Oxfam, as the most unequal country on earth, in terms of inequality. According to the World Bank, we are also the country with the highest number of poor people, we have the highest number of out-of-school-children, we have the highest number of maternal and child mortality.”
Lauding the CDD for the debate, he said corruption is the most topical issue in the country that should be discussed.
He said his party would employ technology to tackle corruption in the country.
“Nigeria happens to be a country that you believe that this country was created to be looted. And, it is totally uncounsciousnable. $480 billion has been stolen from this country as at 2017,” he said.
He posited that the consequences of stealing public fund are the current state of health, education, security among others in the country.
Fasua, an economist, stressed that his party had concluded plans to address many of the challenges facing the nation with technology, including corruption. He said it took government too long to implement the bank verification number (BVN) and Treasury Single Account (TSA) and that his party would do better because of its drive for technology.
He explained that corruption was so endemic in the country that government only receives only a half of revenues generated in the nation. He said his government would stop such a practice if elected into office.
For the YPP, Olawale Martins said corruption is antidevelopment. He said the higher the corruption, the lower the rate of development. He averred that the difference between developed and under-developed countries is the manner corruption is handled.
He said Nigeria’s value system had totally collapsed. “And, that is what developed nations hold in high esteem. Gone are the days when we said ‘good names are better than riches.” According to him, there are no strong institutions to fight corruption in Nigeria.
He rued laxity of value system, good political leadership, and promised his party would work on moral and ethical leadership, review extant laws on corruption if elected into office.
Speaking on his party’s strategy to fight corruption, he said the party would employ “systematic approach that centres around ICT in tackling the problem of corruption. We are going to reduce interaction between individuals. That is one of the greatest reasons for corruption.”
He emphasized that “official corruption” is the reason the nation is where it is today.
