A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Timi Frank, has challenged the Federal Government “to publish the names of those who have returned the money and how much it has been recovered for the sake of transparency in the fight against corruption.”
Mr Frank, who is the APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, said not doing so “would amount to keeping Nigerians in the dark if people are not made to know how much has been recovered since the current administration emerged.”
In a statement personally signed by Mr Frank, on Tuesday in Abuja, that contains his reaction to the recent alleged list of looters released by the federal government, the APC chieftain said it was a good thing to make the list public.
He, however, said that a step should be taken further by publishing names and who returned what for the sake of transparency.
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Recall that the Federal High Court had given a go ahead some time ago for the government to publish the names and amount recovered so far.
“While I commend the fight against corruption and the vigour of our party, we must not forget that ‘he who comes to equity, must come with clean hands.’
“For APC government to be taken seriously in this war against corruption, President Muhammadu Buhari must emulate the likes of President John Magufuli of Tanzania, who started fighting corruption with members of his party and cabinet who have been indicted of corruption.
“We should not make the fight against corruption one-sided, political or sentimental.
“Until Nigerians could see the names of some serving government officials and other APC members who have been accused of corruption in the so call looters list, it might just be an exercise for propaganda which Nigerians will never take seriously.
“Let it not be that once someone joins APC, his or her sins have been forgiven. There are many accused people in APC today who were in PDP yesterday, how come their names are not on this list?
“The list in its entirety as released by the Minister of Information and Culture smacks clearly as an opposition party list and as such exonerates corrupt officials in the ruling party, which paints the corruption fight as purely selective.
“Several PDP Governors and stalwarts who had decamped to the ruling party, even after being accused have been left off the hook, thereby undermining the entire anti-corruption fight as evident in the public domain.
While demanding for total transparency in the whole thing, the APC chieftain urged the Nigerian government to remember the promised the ruling party made during the campaign in 2015.
“So until government boldly make it known to Nigerians how much has been recovered as claimed, the world might not take the fight against corruption serious.
“I believe this corruption fight must not be partisan because we are all Nigerians first before political party, therefore we must treat everybody fairly irrespective of political affiliation.”
