Foremost constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, has stated that corruption is not Nigeria’s primary problem.
Speaking on behalf of his group, the Igbo Leaders of Thought, the elder statesman warned President Muhammadu Buhari to be careful in the fight against corruption.
Nwabueze made the group’s feelings known after an extensive meeting in Enugu.
The group noted that other vital issues like poverty, illiteracy and security should not be neglected because of the campaign against corruption.
Speaking to journalists, Nwabueze, however, observed that the current preoccupation with the anti-corruption campaign had unfortunately relegated other serious national challenges to the background.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said, “Everybody is thinking that all that we need is to fight corruption; it is important, but it is not our primary problem.
“There are other issues that are even more important than corruption.
“We have the question of illiteracy, the question of poverty, the question of security.
“As important as the war against corruption is, we are of the view that there are other issues that overshadow corruption.
“Another issue is what we call the national question.”
Shedding further light on the ‘national question’, Nwabueze said Nigeria was not a nation.
He said, “The national question means the problem of evolving Nigeria into a nation.
“Nigeria is not a nation; it is a state.
“We all want to belong to that state but we deceive ourselves always by thinking and painting the picture that we are already a nation; we are not.”
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