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Former President of West African Bar Association (WABA) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Femi Falana, on Thursday said the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration cannot be taken seriously in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
Falana, who spoke as a Guest Speaker at the 26th ACSR in Abuja, on the theme “State of Anticorruption in Nigeria: Assessment of 2021 and Agenda for 2022” urged persons interested in the fight against corruption in the country to be involved in politics.
“You must no longer leave politics for the elites. Every capitalist country is corrupt. So, if you must fight corruption, you must be involved in the politics of Nigeria,” Falana asserted.
According to him, the law in Nigeria that should have aided the fight against corruption in the country is not neutral, saying “do not allow laws and courts to make a mockery of the fight against corruption.”
Falana noted that the Code of Conduct Bureau needs to be transparent if it wants to fight corruption in the country.
The senior advocate wondered why when someone in Nigeria steals yam to feed his family but gets caught, the person is taken to court and charged for stealing.
“If found guilty, the Law will punish that person with 7 years imprisonment. But the man that steals billions is charged for money laundering and gets 6 years jail term as punishment,” he added.
In his words: “How do you fight corruption when there is no transparency? If you must fight corruption, you must know what a minister has as assets before resuming office- so you can know when the minister has illegally acquired assets when leaving office.”
The senior advocate pointed out that the reason why “Yahoo-Yahoo” is in the mind of some Nigerian youths is that they want to live the life that they see the children of many corrupt politicians live.
He stated: “There is also “Yahoo-Politicians” too. You that got money for the repair or fixing of a road and you keep the money to yourself, allowing accidents to occur and people die- is that not “Yahoo-Politician?
“Or, you receive more for Nigerian hospitals to function well and travel abroad for treatment without fixing the hospitals and people die- is that not “Yahoo-Politician?”
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