The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, lacks the capacity to fight corruption in the country.
Tinubu had said his administration, after inauguration on May 29, would put in place incentives and policies that would make corruption unattractive to Nigerian workers, especially judges.
The President-elect, while speaking at the inauguration of the Magistrate Courts Complex in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Thursday, May 4, added that with the right conditions, the temptation for corruption would be minimal among the citizens.
Reacting to Tinubu’s declaration, the PDP, in a statement issued on Friday, May 5, by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the President-elect promoted and institutionalised corruption as an act of governance during his regime as the governor of Lagos State.
The party further described the former two-term governor of Lagos State as an enabler and beneficiary of corruption.
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The PDP stressed that Tinubu’s statement was completely sacrilegious and an assault on the sensibility of Nigerians, “having regards to his records of alleged corruption and having been described variously as an embodiment of corruption in his public life.”
The opposition party added: “It is in the public domain that as Governor of Lagos State, Senator Tinubu promoted and institutionalised corruption as an act of governance. It is on record that Senator Tinubu is alleged to be deeply involved in the infamous cases involving Alpha Beta Consulting Limited and Alpha Beta LLP, allegedly owned and controlled by him and through which over N100 billion belonging to Lagos State was reportedly stolen through shady tax collection deals.
“It is also public knowledge that there has been numerous allegations and evidence of corruption and complicity by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the declaration of Senator Tinubu as winner of the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
“Today, Nigerians and indeed the world believe that that declaration was a product of corruption of the Process, Institutions, and the Law by the APC and its Presidential candidate.
“It is therefore ludicrous that an individual who has been widely alleged to be an enabler and beneficiary of corruption can attempt to put himself forward to Nigerians as a champion of anti-corruption. Of course, corruption cannot fight corruption!
“If indeed Senator Tinubu is desirous of fighting corruption, the starting point should be that he publicly and personally address Nigerians on the numerous allegations of corruption, including the Alpha Beta cases and alleged improper acquisition and conversion of Lagos State Government landed properties worth billions of naira to himself, family, associates, and cronies.
“Clearly, Senator Tinubu’s pontification or claims on corruption is a further attempt to corrupt, cultivate, patronise, lure, and compromise the Judiciary ahead of the commencement of the hearing of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Monday, May 8, 2023, and nothing more.”
The PDP, therefore, urged the judiciary to “be wary of attempts by the APC and its Presidential Candidate to patronize them in the course of the discharge of their Constitutional duties as impartial arbiter, particularly in the pending Petition before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”
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