President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday that his administration would not tolerate any corrupt government.
He said this while addressing the closing session of the Catholics
Bishops Conference of Nigeria at a mass at the Holy Cross Church,
Gwarimpa, Abuja.
Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari said that
resources meant for millions of Nigerians ended up in the pockets of a
few corrupt individuals.
He said he aligned himself with the communiqué of the conference that
Nigerians must hold those elected into offices accountable.
``Corruption is a sin against humanity; it is a crime against humanity; we must have no excuses for those who are corrupt.
``We ourselves as a government hold ourselves accountable for everything that we do.’’
``We want to embrace a system where anyone who holds public office is
held to account for whatever he does in government so that resources of
this great nation will satisfy all of us and will be used for the
common good.’’
He recalled his earlier declaration at the Bishops Conference to
ensure that his duty as President would be to ensure that all religions
among people of different faith and ethnicity offered their worship in
peace and security.
He also recalled his pledge at that event to ensure that everyone,
regardless of religious persuasion, enjoyed equal rights and equal
protection.
``Today that has been the guiding principles of the President,’’ he
declared, adding that it was in line with the provisions of the
constitution.
The President noted the use of religion to spread division and
discord during the last elections and thanked God that his
administration had lived up to the promises of ensuring that everyone
was treated fairly and equally.
Buhari thanked the Bishops for acknowledging the efforts of
government against terror but noted that while Boko Haram had been
decimated, there were still few incidences of suicide bombings which
Nigerians should be vigilant about.
He called for a united front against the menace and other evil which did not recognise religion or ethnicity.
``It is simply evil and that is why all of us as children of God must
condemn evil in all its ramifications; we must not use it as an excuse
to divide; evil is simply evil and it must be so condemned,’’ he
declared.
He urged Christians to observe the Pope’s declaration of the year of mercy because everyone was a product of the mercy of God.
He said that there was no question at all that social justice was important in the country.
``And today it is so important because our nation has a population of
over 100 million extremely poor and vulnerable people who do not have
the means to feed themselves,’’ he said.
He thanked the Bishops for the opportunity he had to be able to speak
at the conference and wished the people a great jubilee year of the
mercy of God.
The Chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference and Bishop of Jos
Diocese, Dr Ignatious Kaigama, hailed the effort of the government in
tackling corruption and terrorism.
He said that God would not allow the devil to have the last laugh.
The Host Bishop of Abuja Archdiocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan,
assured Buhari that the entire catholic Bishops and the community were
behind his administration’s quest to ensure social justice and rule of
law.
``We are with you in the fight against corruption and insurgency and we shall win,’’ he said.
The Cardinal, however, urged the president to assign responsibilities
to the religions in the battle as ``this is a battle that the
government cannot wage alone’’.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bishop Alaba Job
offered prayers for President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo, asking
``God to grant them the will to be good and the ability to carry it
out’’ .
Job also prayed God to grant the leaders direction, guidance and
support so that ``this nation will be great under your (Presidency)
care’'.(NAN)
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