JONATHAN LOSING CORRUPTION WAR, SAYS ACF

Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of losing the war against corruption in the country. In a communiqué at the end of Board of Trustees and National Executive Council meeting in Kaduna, the ACF stated that happenings in the polity showed that government was no longer up and doing in its avowed fight against corruption.

The communiqué, signed by National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, said that having reviewed the recent revelations of monumental corruption in the country, particularly, in the police pension office, the fuel subsidy scheme as well as the conviction of former Governor James Ibori by a British court and other bribery convictions relating to Halliburton, Daimler and Siemens in the USA and Germany, 'it appears that the campaign against corruption is in danger of losing steam. More distressing, it appears that some of the cases suggest that the nation's judiciary and investigation and prosecution agencies have been compromised and may be a part of the problem; not much of the solution.'

Continuing, the group said: 'While commending the House of Representatives for conducting this major investigation in the horrendous scandal, the meeting called on the Federal Government to step up the war on corruption and live up to its pledge of sparing no perpetrators of this crime.

'The meeting also called on the nation's judiciary to do more to restore public confidence in the integrity of its judgments. It must avoid giving technical but strive always to deliver substantive justice.

'In order to revitalize the fight against corruption, which has become urgent, it is the considered opinion of the forum that any contemplation of scrapping the two anti-graft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), should be perished. The two institutions could, of course, be merged.'

However, ACF commended President Jonathan for his efforts at providing almajiri schools that would teach both western and Islamic education in the North.

The forum then called on the northern state governments to follow up the momentum President Jonathan is building to achieve a more rapid improvement in the quality and volume of primary and secondary education in the North.