Osinbajo and Nigerian governors at the burial of Mrs. Omowunmi Akande in Osun state in July 2017BY SIMON ATEBA/WASHINGTON DC
Governor Fayose of Ekiti state has challenged Nigeria’s Acting President, Mr. Yemi Osinbajo, to prove that he and President Muhammadu Buhari are seriously fighting corruption by releasing a report that seemed to have indicted their own men.
Opposition parties in Nigeria have repeatedly argued that the war against corruption was only target at opposition members and not a serious one.
Mr. Fayose in a statement to SIMON ATEBA NEWS on Sunday said he had sent a letter to Mr. Osinbajo demanding the immediate release of the report of the investigative panel on corruption allegations against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal, and the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mr. Ayo Oke.
Both men were suspended early this year after revelations emerged that they might have engaged in corrupt practices.
In the letter dated July 11, 2017, and received at the Acting President’s office on July 13, 2017, the governor also demanded that the Acting President “act expeditiously on the report”, threatening to go to court to compel him.
Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications and New Media, Mr.Lere Olayinka who released the statement on Sunday said Governor Fayose told the Acting President “never to habour the view that the matter can swept under the carpet”.
He said the government’s war against corruption lacks credibility and “had, thus floundered because of the government perceived penchant for sweeping allegations of corruption against top functionaries of the federal government and members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)”.
“I dare to say that this is one of the reasons the so-called war against corruption has not attracted public support. It lacks credibility and has, thus floundered. It is also the reason your administration has lost case after case in the court of law, even though administration officials have tried to cover government’s Achilles heel as well as their own howling incompetence under the pretense of corruption fighting back,” the governor said.