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AD, Afenifere
fault FG
outburst on TI report
By Habib
Aruna
Assistant
Politics Editor,
Lagos
The Federal
Government got more knocks over the Transparency International (TI) report
and the way the administration responded. The Alliance for Democracy (AD)
and Afenifere said the
TI verdict should not be a surprise to objective observers of the Nigerian
situation.
In separate
reactions, the two organisations frown at the government for rebutting the
report without acknowledging the realities that was reflected in the
report.
AD�s
National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said government, in its
characteristic manner of not accepting criticisms, has rushed to condemn
the report.
The
statement reads: �We stated before that this government is dancing naked
in the market. Everyone can see the nakedness except the government. The
government points to the existence of certain institutions like the ICPC,
EFCC and others that have been established as evidence that it is
seriously fighting corruption.
�They
forget that the establishment of such bodies have never been the problem
in Nigeria. Indeed, every government in Nigeria tried in one way or the
other to establish institutions, bodies and committee etc. to fight
corruption or to engage in moral crusade to re-orientate. All such efforts
have come to naught, because the crucial ingredients for success has
always been missing�.
While
advising the government to do the proper thing and admit its failure, AD
said under the current dispensation a new phrase has been added to the
lexicon of corruption in Nigeria-the phenomenon of �Ghana Must Go�-that
freely exchange hands in the corridors of the National
Assembly.
Similarly,
Afenifere maintained that five years down the line, the war against
corruption has yet to take off, adding that the various actions of
government tend to suggest that the anti-corruption war is just a
smokescreen and at best a scare measure meant to whip into line political
opponents who may step out of bounds.
�Thanks to
Transparency International, our rulers can actually see their nakedness in
the comity of decent nations. And rather than disputing the indisputable,
the sensible thing for Nigeria to do is to begin to do a self-examination
of self�, Afenifere said in the statement signed by its national Publicity
Secretary, Yinka Odumakin.
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