Jonathan is promoting corruption —Keyamo

 Festus Keyamo

A renowned lawyer, Festus Keyamo, on Sunday said President Goodluck Jonathan has surrounded himself with corrupt people, hence it had been ‘impossible’ for the President to launch an anti-graft war.

Keyamo, in a statement, said that Jonathan, rather than curb corruption, had been promoting corruption by his actions and inactions.

He, therefore, said that only the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), could curb corruption.

He said the Director of Media and Publicity for Jonathan’s campaign, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, was still in court for financial impropriety.

Keyamo, who is the prosecutor in the case against Fani-Kayode, said the fact that the ex-minister was the image maker for Jonathan showed what Jonathan stood for.

He said, “We have a President who has no single appetite to fight corruption – yes, none. Imagine a campaign that is dominated by the theme of corruption, yet the President has decided to appoint a person facing trial for money-laundering as his Director of Media and Publicity.

“If nobody would say it, I will say it because I am the one prosecuting the fellow in court and the case has been adjourned to February 23 and 24 for trial. Part of the lies told is that the fellow has been freed whereas some of the counts in the charge were just struck out and the court held that he has a case to answer on some other counts. Yet nobody is asking the President these hard questions.

“The President only mouths anti-corruption. The other day (December 23rd, 2014, I think) the President said he would like to erect a Hall of Shame for Nigerians who engage in corrupt and unwholesome activities that bring the country to disrepute.

“But he was the same person who brought a convicted criminal, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, out of the Hall of Shame to the Hall of Fame by misusing his power of Prerogative of Mercy when he granted pardon to this self-confessed ex-convict. Imagine the pain, the efforts and resources that go into securing a single conviction for corruption in this our clime.”

Keyamo said it was an irony that Jonathan had decided to tackle the corruption of stealing of the nation’s resources in the high seas by empowering “small-time crooks and criminals to police our waterways.”

The human rights lawyer said Jonathan’s weakness as the commander-in-chief had started to rub off on the armed forces as soldiers could no longer contain insurgency.

He said, “Before Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Boko Haram was nothing but a rag-tag group of extremists living in enclaves like Sambisa, while our proud military boys patrolled the towns. Now, under Jonathan, the reverse is the case. Our military boys are now in enclaves while Boko Haram patrols our towns.

“One obvious flaw is that our President has lost control of the military and the top hierarchy of the military is merely feeding fat on this unfortunate situation and the President seems to be totally helpless in the face of this.”