Human rights activist, Chief Frank Kokori,
has advised the President-elect,
Muhammadu Buhari, to start his
administration by prosecuting and jailing
looters immediately after he takes oath of
office on May 29.
Kokori, who is a former General Secretary
of the National Union of Petroleum and
Natural Gas Workers, said this during an
interview with our correspondent on
Thursday.
The activist said by immediately
prosecuting looters, Nigerians would have
an idea of what the Buhari administration
stands for and change would gradually set
in.
He said, “You cannot change everything in
four years but when Nigerians start seeing
little changes in three to six months and
then in one year and you see people being
prosecuted and jailed for stealing public
funds, and the government ensures that all
the funds that were taken overseas are
recovered, there is no way the needed
change will not come.
“Why should Nigeria have up to $250bn in
stolen funds abroad and only $35bn in our
foreign reserves? The international
community is aware of this and the
incoming government is not foolish.
Anybody that thinks he has stolen and will
go scot free must be deceiving himself
because if any thief goes scot free, then
the All Progressives Congress-led
government is not serious.
“So, the APC government must make sure
that Nigerians that stole money are
prosecuted and jailed while the money
should be retrieved.
Nobody should run a government by
saying you will forget the past, no. The
way Nigeria is today, people must be
punished for the pains they have subjected
Nigerians to.”
Kokori described the fuel scarcity across
the country as unfortunate. He, however,
rejected suggestions that subsidy must be
removed.
He said the incoming administration must
focus on building new refineries and
repairing the old ones so as to stop the
importation of fuel.
He said, “The question of subsidy would be
looked into.
It was the corruption in the subsidy that
affected the sector.
Once there is transparency and corruption
is curbed and discipline is enforced, things
will work.
Why should we be importing a huge
quantity of petrol?”
The former NUPENG boss, who came into
limelight during the June 12, 1993
struggle, described the emergence of
Buhari as a sign of good things to come.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party
punished Nigerians for many years and
took the citizens for granted.
He said four more years of President
Goodluck Jonathan would have been
disastrous.
Reacting to threats by some ex-militants
to return to the creeks if Buhari revoked
their pipeline surveillance contracts,
Kokori urged Buhari to ignore the ex-
militants.
He, however, advised Buhari to ensure
that the people of the South-South benefit
from his government so that they would
not feel marginalised.
He called on the Independent National
Electoral Commission to continue electoral
reforms so that the next elections would
be better that the previous ones.
Source: PunchNg