President Muhammadu Buhari
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) says the administration of
President Muhammadu Buhari is the best since Nigeria got independence in
1960.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ishaq Akintola, MURIC’s director, said
corruption has been a major problem and it is only Buhari’s government
that has tackled it decisively.
Akintola said Buhari has been fighting corruption since 1983 when he had a stint as a military head of state.
“We adjudge the Buhari administration as the best in
post-independence Nigeria. Everyone agrees that corruption is the bane
of Nigeria’s development. All other factors are peripheral but
corruption is tangential. This implies that Nigeria will overcome all
its challenges once corruption has been reduced to its barest minimum,” the statement read.
“This explains why President Muhammadu Buhari has been consistently
consistent in tackling graft since his days as military head of state
(1983-85) till today. Apart from the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), the
period heralded transparency, probity and accountability in the public
sphere.
“Unfortunately corrupt elements in society have also been fighting tooth
and nail to frustrate his efforts. These include, but are not limited
to, rapaciously greedy civil servants, a superfluously voracious
business class and avariciously glutinous politicians.
“They were behind the 1985 coup which ousted the no-nonsense
Buhari-Idiagbon regime. That coup was an anti-people action sponsored by
established kleptomaniacs and executed by greedy, corrupt and
overambitious elements in the military. That singular action also
returned Nigeria to the path of unbridled waste, reckless graft and
undiluted consumerism.
“Unfortunately the second coming of President Buhari in 2015 as a
civilian president was almost castrated as the National Assembly was
hijacked from the very beginning courtesy of ‘sarakitisation’ and
‘dogaratisation’ of parliamentary process. The president himself nearly
lost his life.”
The group said notwithstanding the setback, Nigeria is currently
witnessing the most massive infrastructural development ever experienced
since independence.
Roads, modern rail system which, according to the group have been abandoned, are now getting attention.
The group also hailed the president for implementing the treasury single
account (TSA) which has “helped to block financial leakages”.
Adjudging Buhari’s government as being transparent, the group said the
government helped clear accumulated arrears of workers salaries and
pensions running into billions of naira, and also ensured that Biafran
veterans were paid off.
The group added that although Boko Haram insurgents scored direct hits
with heavy casualties in Kano and Abuja before 2015, it has been most
effectively confined to the north-east since that period.