Hon. Yakubu Dogara
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has warned that there should be no sacred cow in the ongoing war against corruption being waged by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
While describing corruption as a cancer, he cautioned that leaving any of its cells alive will be fatal as it is important to confront corruption in all its ramifications.
In a series of tweets he posted on Thursday, Dogara categorically stated that it will be foolhardy for the country to jail the looters without recovering the chunk of the looted funds.
Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, had after the National Peace Committee met with President Muhammadu Buhari last week, suggesting that past political office holders accused of corruption should be pardoned.
Kukah, who is a member of the Committee chaired by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), said it would amount to distraction and a waste of time probing past administrations, adding that the present government should be forward looking and meet the needs and aspirations of Nigerians.
But Dogara, in his Twitter posts, disagreed with this position, stressing that, “We must confront corruption in all its ramifications cos it’s like cancer. Leaving any of its cells alive’ll be fatal.
“In this total war on corruption, what we say is meaningless.
“It boils down to what we’ll do.
“Read our Legislative Agenda.
“How can we reign in the support of Western Governments not to prosecute those Institutions in the event that they blow the whistle?
“The amount of looted funds stashed abroad is such that it’ll be foolish to just jail the looters without recovering a chunk of it.
“We must be very smart but the total war must go on regardless of who is for or against it and there should be no sacred cow.
“We need to set the goal or purpose of the war against corruption in order to fashion out an appropriate response
“For example: do we want our money back or do we simply want to jail the looters?
“These are complex issues with no easy answers,” he tweeted.
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