The national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, says former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government earned a red card in governance but won the gold medal in corruption.
Tinubu spoke Thursday at the Old Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja at the presentation of a book titled “Making Steady, Sustainable Progress” written by the Presidential Media Team.
The former governor of Lagos State, who unveiled the book, said Jonathan’s government used the public treasury “as a private hedge fund or a charity that limited its giving only to themselves.”
He stated: “So much money grew feet and ran away faster than Usain Bolt ever could. That which could have been spent on national development was squandered in ways that would cause the devil to blush.
“One minister and her rogues’ gallery picked the pocket of this nation for billions of dollars. While poor at governance, these people could give a master thief lessons in the sleight of hand. In governance, they earned a red card but in the corruption, they won the gold medal. It was not that our institutions had become infected by corruption. Corruption had become institutionalized.”
Tinubu said though President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s anti-graft war was not yet won, had set an axe to the root of corruption.
“I would be lying if I say the war against large-scale corruption has been won. It has not. It will take time and countless swings of the axe to fall such a deeply rooted tree. But try we must. This is what the president is doing.
“Gone are the times when a minister can pilfer billions of dollars as easy as plucking a piece of candy from the table,” he stated.
Tinubu noted that President Buhari’s administration had much to do to combat corruption.
He said apart from tracking down “the takers”, the president must “review the salaries of public servants and create universal credits for our people to reduce temptation.”
Tinubu added: “We must also take greater care by placing people of character, competence and goodness into key positions. When they fail, they must be removed without remorse or favour.”
He affirmed that Buhari, unlike his predecessor, had demonstrated the will to walk this path.