Lawan: It Is Petty To Say Corruption Thrives Under This Government

 Senate President Ahmad Lawan has said those insinuating

that graft and corrupt tendencies are more prevalent under

the Muhammadu Buhari administration are being political

and petty.

Lawan said this on Monday while addressing State House

Correspondents after the second National Summit on

Diminishing Corruption and launch of the National Ethics

and Integrity Policy by the Independent Corrupt Practices

and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

The Senate President noted that when prosecution of a

case of corrupt practice drags into years, such is an

indication that something is wrong and a tacit support for

corruption.

According to him, no government in the history of Nigeria

has hinged its campaigns on fighting corruption like the

present administration.

Lawan said: “I don’t know who they are and I don’t know

what their facts are. But I will not speak to speculations; I

speak to facts. I want to see the facts that there’s more

corruption in this administration than the previous

administrations.

“You will recall that in a particular former administration,

we know that somebody once said that what people

accused the government of corruption was simple stealing.

This administration does not see anything that appears like

corruption or thievery and leaves it untreated. So, I believe

it depends on who is talking.

“If you have an opposition, it is likely the opposition will tell

you there’s so much ‘persecution’ of the opposition, that

there’s so much corruption in this administration than the

previous one. But we know the previous administrations.

“Let me be a bit more decent and may be non-political. But

I want to tell you that this administration has done so well

because we campaigned on the basis of three pillars of

anti-corruption, the fight against insurgency and insecurity

across the country and the revitalisation of our economy.

“So, no administration or political party, in the history of

Nigeria that fought its campaigns on the basis of fighting

corruption in Nigeria. In fact, there were administrations

that never mentioned corruption in their entire tenure.

“This administration has stood firmly, trying to fight

corruption, and I want to believe that those who are saying

there’s more corruption in Nigeria today than before

are

simply trying to be partisan or petty.