Doing a post-mortem of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s term in officer, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah explained that Nigerians witnessed the worst phase of corruption under Buhari’s administration.
This is as he lamented the fact that the country currently shared its sovereignty with bandits and terrorists, in view of the pervasive insecurity in Nigeria.
Kukah spoke as human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, cautioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against sending wrong signals in his anti-corruption fight, stressing that some of those who have visited the Presidential Villa in recent times are currently being tried for looting.
Kukah, in his keynote speech at the 60th Call-to-Bar anniversary celebration of a legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Monday, noted that though corruption did not start under the last administration, it amplified it in moral, financial and other terms.
But aides to the former President, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Buhari will not join issues with “a drowning man.”
One of the aides said: “We will not join issues with him. What are the facts and figures he provided?”
But in his remarks, Kukah said: “We have seen the worst phase of corruption in Nigeria, Femi Falana, my friend here will speak about that because he has published a series of articles talking about what happened under the Buhari administration.
“They were not the ones who caused corruption but I think in the last administration, we saw the ugliest phase of corruption, whether in moral terms, financial terms and other terms.’’
The clergyman lamented that Nigeria is sharing its sovereignty which is guaranteed in the constitution with bandits and other terrorists.
He said nobody is excited now about being a Nigerian, even if they were a president or senators, adding that the country is being held hostage by people who threatened the very existence of the nation and its democracy.
According to Kukah a lot of Nigerians had lost faith in the judiciary but noted that he considered the judiciary a victim the same way every other institution in Nigeria was suffering a crisis.
According to him, Nigeria should not yet assume that it is a democracy but, instead assume that it is matching towards democracy, which means rebuilding “after the kind of mess the last administration has left the country.”
Bishop Kukah said it is time to rebuild the country, adding that no matter what happened at the Supreme Court concerning the election, he is convinced that Nigerians had put the “ugly past” behind them.
Also speaking at the event attended by former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, asked President Bola Tinubu to refrain from sending the wrong signal, saying there had been several high-profile politicians with looting cases in court who had been visiting the Presidential Villa.
“Some of those who are going in and out of the Villa are standing trial for looting the treasury of this country.
‘’No, wrong signals must not be sent to our people and the international community,” the senior lawyer said.
Appealing to the President and his government to “show leadership”, Falana declared that “right now, we’re in trouble as a people”.
He added: “There is somebody here who was our president. If you were accused of corruption and your case was before the EFCC or the ICPC, you would not be appointed to a position of authority. We must go back to that era.”
Citing First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s remarks at the 2023 Presidential Inauguration Inter-denominational Church Service in May, which said “God has blessed my family; we don’t need the wealth of Nigeria to survive but to do the right thing’’, Falana urged the President to lead an anti-corruption crusade.
He argued that with the President leading the anti-corruption crusade, Nigeria could “take its rightful place in the comity of nations”, as the largest concentration of black people on earth.
He decried the level of corruption in the country, describing it as having assumed a “very dangerous dimension”.
According to him, the situation is such that highly-placed public officers steal money meant for building hospitals as people die on the roads.
“They steal money meant for ecology, to fight erosion, to re-forest certain parts of the country. So, when a country gets to that stage, corruption is now a crime against humanity,” Falana said.
