APC Govs Indifferent to Corruption Fight, Presidential C’ttee Alleges

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

The Executive Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Sadiq Isah Raddah, has blamed some state governors under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), for being indifferent to the fight against corruption.

Speaking Thursday in Kano at a programme entitled: “Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR); The Imperative of State Anti-Corruption Agency: Kano State a Case Study”, Raddah wondered why some APC governors were not keying into the fight against corruption.

“There is no rationale for governors under APC, a party that holds corruption fight as key to its change mantra, not to actively participate in the crusade.

“It is understandable if PDP governors are not partaking or being indifferent in the fight against corruption because they are opposition, but it is irrational for some APC governors not to contribute their quota in the anti-corruption crusade,” he said

Raddah therefore urged all APC-controlled states to emulate Kano State in establishing anti-corruption agency if they were truly part and parcel of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

The Executive Secretary, who was the chairman of the occasion, also accused state and local governments for not doing enough to support President Buhari’s fight against corruption, leaving the federal government with the burden to championing the war against graft.

“About four months ago, the federal government decided to separate the account of local governments from the state governments. Fifty per cent of national allocation goes to the states and local governments of the federation because the fund has direct impact on the life of the populace. But it is the presence of the federal government that is seen in the corruption fight, not the state and local governments,” he said.

Raddah further blamed the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of institutionalizing and worsening graft in the country, adding that corruption was so endemic, systemic and pervasive during the PDP era. “It went to the extent that if a public office holder refused to loot public treasury he would be considered a fool,” he noted He, however, expressed optimism that the Buhari administration would win the fight against corruption, noting that the war cannot be won unless there was cooperation of all and sundry.

Raddah further said: “Personally not justifiably, I can understand if a PDP government says it will not take part in what the federal government is doing, but I see no reason whatsoever for the APC government at state and local government will not key into what the federal government is doing.

“Because APC government at the local government, state and federal government came under the same party, same manifesto, same policies and same campaign mantra. People voted them because they said they will fight corruption, they will improve security and economy. So it is not for federal government alone to do all these things.

“The federal government cannot do it alone. Everybody, especially the state governments must contribute and cooperate in order to win the war against corruption. We must do it continually until we accomplish our mission of making corruption something of the past in Nigeria”. In his keynote message, the Executive Chairman, Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission, Muhuyi Rimingado, recalled that within four years of his stewardship he has handled over 4,000 cases with large percentage bordering around land issues. He identified “the big men” syndrome as the major cause of the challenges facing the commission.

Earlier in his remarks, the Executive Secretary, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Arigbabu Suleiman, said the organisation holds the forum periodically to sit with stakeholders and chart the way forward against corruption.

He said they decided to host Kano for this year’s event because the state was a pace-setter in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. He added that only Kano State complements the federal government’s effort in the fight against graft, calling on other states to emulate Kano in order to check the menace of corruption that has been ravaging every strata of development.