A former Presidential candidate in the 2019 elections, Gbenga Olawepo-Hassim, on Wednesday lamented the high rate of official corruption across the country, noting that if not checked, it could consume Nigeria.
Olawepo-Hassim alleged that the way and manner corrupt officials and other criminals operated in the land was akin to a country where “there is no government.”
Delivering a paper titled ‘Uthman Dan Fodio: A legacy of anti-corruption,’ at the Arewa House public lecture in Kaduna on Wednesday, Olawepo-Hassim, who vied for the Presidency on the platform of the People’s Trust Party, also urged Nigerians to rise and halt corrupt politicians from hijacking the 2023 polls.
Meanwhile, Olawepo-Hassim, who is now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, said all appointed public officials that harbour political ambitions in the 2023 elections must resign from their positions before joining the train.
According to him, the first step towards stopping corruption in Nigeria was to ensure the forces of corruption did not hijack the elections in the build-up to the 2023 polls.
He added that politicians with prima facie cases of corruption established against them must be shamed and prevented from being nominated in the party primaries and if they cannot be stopped in the primaries, they should be made to lose in the general election.
“Every Nigerian must join in the call that appointed public officers aligned with private interests who have political ambitions must now resign their appointments to prevent the complete privatisation of the state by the nouveau riche,” he said.
While speaking on the embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, the former presidential hopeful expressed sadness over the way public officials were enmeshed in corruption, noting that rather than lie low when the radar was on him for alleged cybercrime, Kyari, like others, behaved as if there was no government.
He said, “Nothing of recent underscores the depth of the corruption quagmire in our country as the sordid details of the alleged drug deals of the soon-to-be extradited top police cop, DCP Abba Kyari.
“This particular case is interesting because it reveals how audacious the corrupt have become in the Nigerian system. Since Kyari was already indicted for cybercrime, one would have expected him to keep a low profile as men of the underworld do in other climes when the radar is on them.
“But in Nigeria, the criminals now believe that there is no government and that they can get away with just anything.
“It is not just Abba Kyari and some public officers alone that are deep in corruption, some bank owners do the same through foreign currency round-tripping, insider abuse of the credit system and stealing of customers’ money through illegal charges.”
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