APC hails Tambuwal for criticising Jonathan’s corruption record

The opposition slams Jonathan’s government

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has commended the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, for criticising the present administration’s tepid fight against corruption.

The opposition party said for taking the principled stand, Mr. Tambuwal was patriotic and dedicated to the nation.

The Speaker had on Monday in Abuja taken a swipe at the President Goodluck Jonathan administration for encouraging corruption in the country. Mr. Tambuwal spoke after attending an anti-corruption forum organised by the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, APC said the Speaker exhibited a leadership trait that was rare in these parts by shunning partisanship to say that the President’s body language did not indicate that he had the political will to fight corruption in the country.

Mr. Tambuwal and the President are members of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“Hon. Tambuwal has shown that he is indeed the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives and that the entire country is his constituency, unlike President Jonathan who has transformed himself to a PDP and sectional leader by viewing serious issues of national importance from the prism of partisanship and sectionalism,” APC said.

The party expressed hope that other Nigerians would emulate the Speaker.

APC said it was delighted to be in the same company with Mr. Tambuwal over the criticism of President Jonathan’s nonchalant stand on corruption, which had eaten deeper into the national fabric under the present administration.

It added, ”We have raised the same issues raised by the Hon. Speaker several times in our regular intervention, but the administration has dismissed our concerns on the altar of partisanship.

“However, now that no less a personality than the country’s number four citizen and a top member of the PDP is the one raising the issue, and coming against the background of Nigeria’s slide in the 2013 rankings released recently by the global anti-corruption body, Transparency International, we hope the administration would realise that it has only been paying lip service to the anti-graft battle, and perhaps make amends.”

The APC said the Speaker was totally right in talking about the President’s body language, which was a reflection of Mr. Jonathan’s deceptive actions towards very serious issues of corruption, including the monumental fuel subsidy scam, the pension scam, the fraud involving the excess crude account, the Sure-P scandal and the controversial bullet proof cars purchased for the Aviation Minister.

“These are slam dunk corruption cases that should have been handed over to the anti-corruption agencies for summary disposal. Instead, the President – thinking Nigerians will merely scream and forget after some time – engages in his usual distracting method of setting up committees, the report of which he will then put away to gather dust.”

The opposition party said that Nigerians were not stupid and understood very clearly that the President was shielding corrupt people willing to contribute massively, from their ill-gotten funds, slush funds to Mr. Jonathan’s campaign.

“Now that a person of the calibre of the Speaker of the House of Representatives has added his voice to this burning issue, the die is cast for Mr. President. He can either move to redeem the image of his administration or continue to swim in the ocean of corruption,” APC said.