Piqued by the inclusion of old men like Aminu Wali and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau as well as some persons of questionable character as ministerial nominees, a civil rights organization, Anti-Corruption Network (ACN) on Wednesday threatened to march on the Senate to protest.
In a statement issued in Abuja, the group noted that some persons that are either facing corrupt charges or have been indicted by anti-graft agencies are on the list President Goodluck Jonathan sent to the Senate on Tuesday for confirmation as ministers.
The Executive Secretary of ACN, Dino Melaye therefore called on the Senate to reject any ministerial nominee of questionable character.
He also threatened that the group will not hesitate to “march on the Senate and embark on aggressive protest to bring sanity into the Nigerian system”.
The statement reads in part, “The nomination by the President Goodluck Jonathan to the Senate of people averagely between the ages of 60 and 80 clearly shows that Mr. President is buttressing generational apathy. What hope for Nigerian youths and my own generation? Wali and Gusau can give birth to Jonathan.
“Also the appointment of Bamanga Tukur as Chairman of the NRC, when his eldest son is approaching 50 years is to say the least, laughable. I ask again, what hope for young people in this country?”
Melaye expressed disappointment that President Jonathan has demonstrated his love for corruption and corrupt persons by the nomination of a former Governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Boni Haruna, a man currently facing corruption charges with the EFCC as a Minister.
“We call on the Senate President and the Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to reject any ministerial nominee of questionable character, particularly those indicted or facing criminal or corruption charges with any of the anti-graft agencies. Mr. President owes the Nigerian people a lucid explanation why he is nominating corrupt characters as Ministers.
“This romance of corruption by Mr. President juxtaposes the continuous stay in office of the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah despite the N255 million bullet-proof car scandal; Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke; Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs, Elder Godson Orubebe and many others elucidates why indicted Ministers sin his government are not being punished.
“We will stop at nothing if the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria proceeds in clearing corrupt nominees for Ministerial appointment. We will march on the Senate and embark on aggressive protest to bring sanity into the system.”
While describing corruption in Nigeria as endemic, systemic and becoming contagious, the ACN boss said that for Nigeria to be rescued, “we should stand up without fear or favour, the fear of consequences and fight corruption headlong because we don’t have any other country we call our own apart from Nigeria.”
He stated further, “We must do everything to rescue this country from the hands of these economic cankerworm. I am bold to say that in this government, since Jonathan’s assumption of office, not one political office holder has been prosecuted and jailed.
“The fight against corruption in Nigeria is a herculean one because there is a popular saying that when you fight corruption, corruption fights you. There is intimidation, incessant arrests, threats and assassination attempts on my life. But for me, I am resolute because the battle to deliver this country from economic cankerworms, financial vultures and inept leadership as I have repeatedly said is a battle of no retreat, no surrender.
“We need to call a bloodless revolution that will transform this nation from the hands of these economic cankerworms and financial scavengers. Nigeria is not only sick but also suffering from a dreadful continental abnormality.
“In an unjust society, silence is a crime; this is the time in the history of Nigeria where silence is no longer golden. People must come out and speak because the day you stop eating is the day you start dying. Where dictatorship becomes legalized, revolution becomes a right.”
