Tukur
Two elder statesmen – Justice Mustapha Akanbi and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur —yesterday endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari’s battle against corruption.
Justice Akanbi, a retired President of the Court of Appeal and pioneer Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said the only thing needed is for Nigerians to “pray for Buhari to succeed”.
He spoke to reporters in Ilorin as part of activities to mark his 83rd birthday.
Tukur, a former Chairman of the PDP, commends Buhari for keeping faith with his campaign promises.
His position is contrary to that of his party which said Buhari had derailed in the implementation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) manifesto.
Justice Akanbi said: “I did not imagine in my time that people will work for six months and they are not paid salaries. How will they feed their families? It is because people have stolen the money. Many political office holders have stolen money.
“This administration has given more hope for now. I spoke against ICPC that they have not been working; that they should wake up from slumber just as EFCC has woken up. The body language and spoken words of Buhari show that he is going to fight corruption.
“Let us all support Buhari. Nobody will succeed in fighting corruption if government does not show political will and Buhari has demonstrated the political will in what he is doing now.”
On the delay in appointing minister, Justice Akanbi said “Buhari has said that we should wait till 30th of September, if he has not appointed, then you can go on with your criticism for not appointing ministers. So he has given a deadline. He must have reasons for giving that date.
“When it comes to the issue of appointment, I understand that there are thousands of appointment to be given. Buhari is the president for the good and the bad and for every Nigerian. I am sure that by the grace of God, he will balance his appointments.”
According to Tukur, Buhari has hit the ground running in tackling corruption, insurgency and unemployment with the efforts already yielding positive results.
“As far as I am concerned, the President is going according to his agenda. So you can judge as well as I can judge. Buhari wants to confront corruption, he wants to confront insurgency, he wants to tackle unemployment. So for me, he is going the right way, he has not deviated.
“We must remove religion from politics. We must accept ourselves as Nigerians and not see ourselves as being from A or B state, or local government. We must ensure that culture, ethnicity, religion or anything we cannot change, we don’t bring to the table”, Tukur said.
Tukur spoke with reporters at his Abuja residence, ahead of his 80th birthday anniversary, coming up on Tuesday. He cautioned the PDP against destructive criticism of the President and his policies.
“My advice is that they should not allow religion, ethnicity and other parochial considerations creep into the nation’s politics”, Tukur said.
The ex-PDP chair advised President Buhari to choose his ministers on merit, above any other considerations, saying “Buhari should not appoint those who want the job; he should appoint those the job wants”.
Such appointees, he said, must be credible, experienced and incorruptible with proven integrity to make a difference.
He counseled that politics should be built on justice, equity and fairness to deepen the nation’s democracy and governance.
The ex-party chair said the PDP would have recorded a better outing in the last general election if he had remained the chairman, adding however, that the Nigerian people got the change they desired.
He foreclosed the possibility of defecting to the APC at his age, saying in democracies any where in the world, there must a be a ruling party and the opposition.
Recalling the circumstances under which he was forced out of the PDP, Tukur said some power brokers in the party found it difficult to embrace his principled leadership style.
“I preached what I believed. I wanted election and people in the PDP said they wanted selection. If the majority or the strong people in the PDP did not believe in it, then the choice or the next thing for me to do was to leave.
“Under the circumstance, it is either I leave or they leave. But I did not want them to leave, so I decided to leave. At that time, people said I was preaching internal democracy instead of imposition. So it was difficult for me to sit there and allow them to leave”, Tukur said.
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