Former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, Chief Martin Onovo, has taken a swipe at the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration over the recent release of the list of only six looters of the nation’s treasury.
Onovo said that the government lacked the credibility to declare anyone a treasury looter, having failed to effectively combat corruption and other malpractices.
Last Friday, the Federal Government had released a list containing names of alleged treasury looters.
The list released by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos, identified the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus; former national publicity secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh; and the Chairman of DAAR Communications, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi as some of the people who looted the treasury.
Also on the list were a former special Assistant to former president Goodluck Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei; a cousin of former president Jonathan, Robert Azibaola; and an unnamed former PDP financial secretary.
But Onovo in an exclusive chat with our correspondent argued that the Buhari administration, which had failed woefully in its anti-corruption crusade had no credible grounds to label or declare anyone as a looter.
He also chided the Federal Government over what he described as its tendency to shield corrupt officials in the ruling party, adding that the current administration had the record of presiding over the biggest corruption scam since the country was amalgamated in 1914.
Onovo said, “The Federal Government has no credibility to call anyone a looter because the anti-corruption war they are fighting is political. The question is; is the government fighting corruption? The answer is no! Instead, the government is promoting corruption. They are doing this by shielding corrupt government officials, who are in APC. The government is also promoting corruption by corrupting the anti-corruption war and using it against the opposition. So, it is very clear that the government is promoting corruption; they even shield several corrupt practices under this government.
“The biggest corruption scam I have ever seen since amalgamation happened under this administration. Look at NNPC $36bn scam; you remember the Forex scam, also. So, the biggest scam we have ever seen happened under this government. This government is the most corrupt government that has ever been in this country. It will be naïve for most corrupt government to fight corruption. And because they are not fighting corruption, corruption has been increasing.”
The former NCP presidential flagbearer, however, urged Nigerians not to be deceived by what he called the propaganda of the current administration to rule the country for a second term.
He advised that since the electorate owned the power to determine their leaders in the next dispensation, they must use it wisely.
