President Goodluck Jonathan acknowledging cheers from Peoples Democratic
Party supporters on arrival at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos...
President Goodluck Jonathan began his
re-election campaign in Lagos on Thursday, saying he would not fight
corruption by arresting and putting people in crates.
Jonathan, in his 33-minute speech that
centered more on responses to criticisms of his administration by some
prominent Nigerians and the opposition, faulted a recent statement
credited to the APC presidential candidate, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,
that he would send corrupt Nigerians to jail.
Although he did not mention names, he
was indirectly making reference to Buhari’s role in the 1984 botched
attempt to smuggle a former Transport minister, the late Umaru Dikko, to
Nigeria.
He said, “They said they will start
fighting corruption after they have crossed the bridge. And only two
days ago, somebody stood in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and said he
would catch people that steal and throw them in Kirikiri(Prisons).
“I agree that we must stop corruption but
I will not do so by catching people and putting them in crates and
jailing or killing them. We can’t stop corruption that way.”
The President told the PDP chiefs,
members and supporters at the carnival-like event that held at the
Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos that “the same mouth says something from
the right and the left, making contradictory statements.”
Raising his voice, he asked rhetorically,“ Can you trust such a man ? Are they not deceiving you?
“They want power by all means. All they
want to use power for is to lock up and imprison their enemies,” he
claimed, eliciting thunderous applause from the gathering.
The President also said that if Buhari
had effectively fought corruption between 1983 and 1985 when he was
Head of State, Nigeria would not be grappling with graft today.
He argued that the kind of anti-graft war the APC presidential candidate was advocating had no place in today’s democracy.
The President said that instead of
fighting corruption by making arrests, he would structure Nigeria in
such a way that people holding public offices would no longer have
direct access to funds.
Jonathan added that his administration
had curbed corruption in the civil service and the agricultural sector
through the computerisation of payment system.
The President, however, explained that the system caused the delay in paying federal civil servants December salaries.
He said, “I apologise to those families
that suffered because I believe that for you to fight corruption, you
must take some measures such as establishing institutions. You don’t
just wake up, enter the streets and start arresting people and showing
them on television sets and saying you are fighting corruption.
“If they had succeeded in fighting
corruption, corruption would not have been with us today. If they had
set up structures to manage resources, in this ICT era, we would not
have been talking about corruption today.
“What happened on the issue of civil
servants is something known as IPIS which is a software for protecting
salaries. Sometimes people steal salaries in some Federal Government
agencies and ministries. They tried to divert funds meant for some
allowances but since the system is scientific, it shut down. This is
the only way that you can prevent corruption.
“I served in Bayelsa State as deputy
governor and governor for eight years and then vice president and
president for another four years. Within these periods, fertiliser
distribution was an area where both the federal and state governments
spent billions of naira. Less than 10 per cent of the product got to
farmers while the rest was stolen and sent out of the country. Even the
10 per cent was sometimes adulterated.
“What did we do? We assembled some young
Nigerians that are IT gurus and developed what we call the Electronic
Wallet. Through the wallet, farmers got fertiliser directly and
nobody is cheating the government again. Is that not a way to stop
corruption?
“If somebody tells you that the best way
to fight corruption is to come and arrest your mother and father and
show them on television, will that stop corruption? In fact, it
will even encourage corruption. We are shooting armed robbers but is
that stopping them? So, arresting people and showing them on television
sets will do nothing. We must set up institutions and strengthen them in
order to prevent people from stealing public money. That is what we are
working on and we are succeeding.”
Although Jonathan was also short of
mentioning names , he said that Nigeria would become a jungle if some
people who did not believe in the rule of law were allowed to take over
governance.
He said, “They say the government is weak
and have no plan. They say we are weak because they took our fathers,
mothers and uncles and drugged and put them in crates before flying them
to Nigeria. They were intercepted mid-air by superior powers.
“That even blocked Nigerians from even
going to Britain at a time. The relationship between Nigeria and Britain
went sour and the whole world isolated Nigeria . They say that is the
way to fight corruption. So the moment I suspect your uncle (of
corruption), I can crate him and send them to Kirikiri (prisons).
“Is that the way to stop corruption? I
served with (former President Umaru)Yar’Adua and he stood by due process
and I also stand by due process.
“Any country that does not obey the rule
of law is a jungle. Do you want Nigeria to be a jungle ? “Immediately I
suspect you of doing something wrong, I will call the police and the
army and throw you into jail. Is that the kind of country you want? They
said to be strong is to jail people indiscriminately for 300 years. Is
that the way to go? A country is like an industry, it must be managed
properly by people who have grey and white matters upstairs.”
He said the APC was not a democratic
party as the Department of State Service had exposed its plan to clone
Permanent Voter Cards in order to rig the general elections.
Jonathan warned that a vote for the APC was a vote for backwardness.
In the area of insecurity, Jonathan said
Buhari could not tackle the problem because he contributed to it by
failing to invest in the military when he was head of state.
He said, “They talked about insecurity.
Are Nigerians in the armed forces weak? The problem is that we don’t
have platforms (equipment) and somebody who wakes up and tells young
people that they want to fight insecurity, ask him: Did he buy one
rifle for a Nigerian soldier?
“These people did not buy anything; they
refused to equip the military and there were no helicopters; nothing.
Ask them what they did with their defence budgets and the whole time
they could not equip the military.”
The President said $10bn was not enough
to buy equipment for the military as it usually took years to boost
its capacity. He, however, said he had been able to curb corruption in
the armed forces by eliminating middlemen in the purchase of arms.
He said, “No country equips its military
overnight . Armed forces are built over the years because even if you
spend $10bn today, you cannot equip the Air Force, the Navy and the
Army. They refused to build their capacity, they instigated crisis and
now they are telling you they can fight insecurity.
“They said the military is corrupt. When
this insecurity started, we had nothing so to tackle it very quickly, we
used vendors to get equipment. But now, we are doing government to
government arrangement and so there is nothing like corruption anymore.
Is that not the way to fight corruption? You must prevent people from
touching public money.”
Jonathan said since his generation had
failed Nigeria, it was important for the youths to vote for those who
would invest in their future.
He said it was his dream for the next generation of Nigerians to fly to the moon.
He said, “Those of my age and above are
finished; we are gone. That is why I am addressing those of you that are
voting for the first time. We believe it is you that will take us to
the moon. My generation has failed, we couldn’t take Nigeria to the
moon.
“Look at what India is doing? I said for
us to get to the moon, our first class graduates should be sent to
the best 25 universities in the world for postgraduate studies.
“ So you must vote wisely. They will
build prisons for you but I will build universities for you. I will
build primary schools and secondary schools .”
He said the APC was not on a mission to
fight corruption but to jail their enemies. He, therefore, urged
Nigerians not to vote for the party.
Jonathan laughed at the reported endorsement of Buhari by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
He said it was unfortunate that the group
which was responsible for killing Nigerians on October 1, 2010 was the
one identifying with the APC.
He also alleged that MEND jailed leader, Henry Okah, was paid to kill him in 2010.
Earlier, the Akwa Ibom State Governor,
Godswill Akpabio, said the alleged missing money from the treasury was a
propaganda tool created by the APC.
Akpabio said, “We (governors) were the
ones that told Mr. President that we should share the 55bn. We said we
could not be saving while our people are hungry. Will you be saving when
your child is in the hospital?
“If your child dies, wouldn’t you be a fool? The money was shared by the three tiers of government so no money is missing.”
He did not say if the money was in naira or dollars.
