Political Briefs
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PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari is under pressure from some highly-placed Nigerians to slow down his anti-graft war.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who made the disclosure on Thursday, February 4, however, promised that the government would not pull the brakes because the fight had the support of Nigerians.
The vice-president gave the hint during a meeting with a delegation from the Moslem Congress of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to a statement by Laolu Akande, his senior special assistant on media and publicity, the vice-president noted that the government had been getting regular messages from some Nigerian elites urging it to take it easy.
“It is a very strange morality, that some of those people have, very complicated but cutting across all tribes and religious differences,” he said.
He, however, observed that the masses of the Nigerian people have a clearer understanding of right and wrong. “The man on the street is very clear, so whatever some of these elites say, we shall keep our focus on the masses who voted for us,” Osinbajo said.
He said it was simply unacceptable that in the past 16 years, there was not a single federal government completed road, let alone rail.
He attributed the situation to corruption, saying costs of projects were often inflated as people, entrusted with public trust, struggled to enrich themselves at the expense of the people.
Osinbanjo said it was the same inordinate desire for personal enrichment that explained why money meant to procure arms was distributed among persons at a time when the territorial integrity of the nation was being attacked.
“The insurgency has gone on for six years because government could not adequately equip the military,” he stated.
Osinbajo assured Nigerians that the present administration had no other agenda but the progress of the country.
Abdulahi Shuaib, leader of the delegation, expressed the group’s support for the government in its programmes; including anti-corruption, expressing the readiness of the group to offer assistance.
“We are thankful that our candidates of choice in the election emerged,” Shuaib said, adding that the choice of Buhari and Osinbajo was made by God during last year’s presidential election.
— Feb 15, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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