Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Sunday said that high level of corruption in the legislature, the judiciary and the press was frustrating the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government’s fight against corruption.
In a statement by Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, the vice President said getting upright persons had remained a tough task for them.
According to Osinbajo, the Buhari’s administration is operating in a system “where the norm is corrupt behaviour across all arms of government.
He said, “I have had several long discussions with President Buhari, the key issue always is finding the right persons for any task; a tough task indeed in a corrupt system.
“This is a system where the norm is corrupt behaviour across all arms of formal systems of governance. In such a system, the private sector is a strong collaborator. The fight against corruption is then a fight against the system,” the Vice-President was quoted to have said.
He observed that the list of corrupt persons cut across tribal, ethnic and religious lines, adding that corrupt persons and their collaborators are in the legislature, the judiciary and even in the press.
Osinbajo said corrupt persons always “protect one another’s interest and are ready to go down with any of their own.”
“When you look at any list of alleged perpetrators of a heinous case of corruption, all tribes, ethnicities and religions are well represented.
“In other words, high-level corruption knows no religion or ethnicity.
“Such perpetrators and conspirators are in governments, the legislature, the judiciary and the press. They are united, they protect one another, they fight for one another and they are prepared to go down together.
“They are one tribe and indivisible, regardless of diversity. It is this tribe that confuses the arguments for change in society,” the vice President said.
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