Former governor of Anambra State and and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chimwoke Mbadinuju has called for citizens support for the anti-graft campaign of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Speaking against the backdrop of the recent launch of the Anti-Corruption Sensitization Campaign of the Federal Government to a group of journalists in Keffi on Friday, the former governor declared: “What the President is doing is cleaning the mess of previous administrations. It is clear that the President is not the cause of our political and economic problems, but rather finding solutions of past and present problems we face.
“Former administrations brought the ‘cankerworm’ and ‘caterpillar’ of corruption, injustice, poor economy, cheating and looting. President Buhari has extended the loot recovery to former Yar’Adua-Obasanjo era and this is extensive enough to curb graft and recover Nigeria’s stolen common wealth.
“Corruption will die faster in Nigeria if we do away with avarice, inordinate ambition, political ostentation, greed, cheating and the likes.”
Defending the recent actions of President Buhari, including the formation of a Federal cabinet, foreign trips and the recent budget proposal sent to both chambers of the National Assembly, Dr. Mbadinuju said the President was doing what was best for Nigeria in the circumstances.
“The President has travelled extensively, but not for himself but for the Nigerian people. These travels to Europe, the United States, France, Malta and some other African countries were done to help our national situation and today, Nigeria is better for those diplomatic travels.
“Just like Shakespeare said, ‘folks who put the piper to passion will see the piper pipe after another fashion,’ Nigerians should applaud President Buhari on this path to prosperity.
“Every well-meaning Nigerian can agree with me that President Buhari’s decision to opt for Minister of Petroleum was to right the wrongs of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Nigeria as whole. This is a master-stroke that is certainly good for Nigeria,” the former governor of Anambra whose tenure between 1999 and 2003 was fraught with controversies told journalists.
On the abduction saga by Boko Haram insurgents of more than 200 female students of Government Girls College, Chibok in Borno State in 2014, Mbadinuju said the Buhari government was not oblivious of the plight of the parents of the abducted girls and adduced the conundrum to the late response by the previous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
He charged Nigerians to ensure that all hands be on deck with Preisent Buhari so as not to allow opposition to distract the President and called for unity among the various segments of the Nigerian society.
However, the former governor did not spare the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) whom he described as “corrupt opposition” for the woes that presently bedevil Nigeria. He also charged the opposition to be objective in their assessment of the President’s “less than one year in office.”
-Vanguard
