Senator Jonathan Silas Zwingina, the former Senate leader, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is standing alone in the fight against corruption as he is allegedly surrounded by corrupt officials.
Zwingina stated this Sunday at a sensitisation workshop on the activities and achievements of President Buhari held in Bauchi.
Zwingina, who was the guest speaker on the occasion, expressed fears over the success of the fight against corruption said, “It is quite unfortunate that the President is surrounded by so many doubtful assistants.
He added, “With the foot soldiers available to Mr. President to fight the war against corruption, there are many cases where it appears that the President is alone in the fight against corruption.
“He is sometimes surrounded by so many doubtful assistants such that if he were to sack them, he would sack almost everybody, hence he is forced to manage what is available to him.
“It is also on record that some of the anti-corruption agencies are themselves not without some in-house corruption suspects,” he said.
Zwingina, who attributed insurgency that engulfed North-East region to corruption, said: “If corruption was not allowed to interfere in the system, there would have been no insurgency in the first instance.”
He thereby stressed the need for all hands to be on deck to fight corruption to a standstill in the country.
“We must support the war against corruption in order to climb higher in the anti-corruption index as well as free our economy and society from the cancer that has been overwhelmingly acknowledged as the main threat to our development,” he said.
Also speaking, an elder statesman and ex-Minister for Special Duties during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Kirfi, lauded the efforts of President Buhari in tackling insurgency in the North-East.
Bello Kirfi, who was the chairman of the occasion, said, “Before the coming of the administration, we were very much affected by insurgency in the North-East where thousands were killed, many displaced and property worth millions of naira destroyed but today we can sleep with our two eyes closed.”
He therefore advised President Buhari to carry everybody along irrespective of party affiliations noting that the President should remember that it was not APC that brought him to power but Nigerians voted for him hence the need to be President to all Nigerians and not APC alone.
In his welcome address, the convener of the event, the Senior Special Adviser (SSA) Political to President Buhari, Right Honourable Gideon Stummani, said the workshop was organised to showcase the achievements of the President in the last two years.
He enumerated some of the achievements of the President as agenda against indiscipline and fight against corruption, N-Power Programme, Anchor Borrowing, diversification of economy, among others.
He stated further that President Buhari has restored Nigeria’s image abroad saying Nigerians are being respected all over the world as many international community were now willing to do business in the county without any fear or doubt.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER