Attahiru Bafarawa- one of the major characters in the ongoing investigation into the arms funds diversion scandal of the last administration- says 90 percent of Nigerians are corrupt.

Bafarawa, who is on trial alongside former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, in an interview with Vanguard, reiterated his support for the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari.



The former governor of Sokoto state also berated former Presidents, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan for failing to buildon the anti-corruption efforts of their predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo.

“Corruption in Nigeria is not a thing that one man can fight. I believe fighting corruption is the responsibility of every Nigerian. Don’t forget that I served for eight years from 1999 – 2007, I served for eight years. When we took over from the military in 1999 the crude oil was $9 per barrel and in 2007 it had gotten up to $30 – $40 and then we left a lot of legacies in our various states during that period.”

“When I left office, I left behind N12 billion in the treasury. You can see the fortune that came the way of the nation between 2007 and 2015 when the price of oil rose to over $100 per barrel. One begins to wonder why those who enjoyed the huge oil revenue should be asking for bailout from the Federal Government.”

“I can say that I left behind legacies that generations yet unborn will be very proud of. We had a good leader, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was committed to fighting corruption and he created many institutions like the EFCC and the ICPC to handle the job. Whatever name you want to give him; whether he did it for fighting corruption or for witch-hunting, at least, it assisted in fighting corruption. He laid a foundation, he realised there was corruption and he fought it. After he left, his successors -YarÁdua and Jonathan-did not do much to fight corruption and that exacerbated the monster in the land.”

“Today, one can say that up to 90 percent of Nigerians are corrupt because when you go to the grassroots level, that is where corruption starts. The electorate will demand money before they elect you into office no matter how good you are, no matter the kind of ideology you have and intend to bring for their own good. If you don’t give them money, they would not support you. The game is that anyone who comes and shares money to them gets the support and nothing more.”

Speaking further, Bafarawa described himself as an accidental member of the opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party.

The ‘professional politician’ said he’s one of the founding members of the All Progressives Congress, and that he was forced to join PDP due to circumstances beyond his control.

“I have never been a member of PDP since the creation in 1999 up till 2014. I have never been a member of PDP because my ideology is different from theirs otherwise I would have joined them. I found myself in PDP by accident. What I mean by accident is that I was part and parcel of the APC. I am a founding member of the APC. I was forced to leave APC because of corruption in politics in my state when PDP governors defected to the APC. Corruption came into the system along the formation of the party when they said that the PDP governors were going to join APC and I happened to be a victim. We were forced to hand over the party to my governor, who was a PDP member. So my followers insisted we must remain in PDP and I had to work with them.”

“I had to work with them. I joined PDP at the state level with my people without coming to Abuja or anybody enabling me. Even the top shots in PDP, including former President Jonathan did not believe that I had indeed joined the PDP when he was told. He could not believe that because during the days of Obasanjo, I had a lot of pressure to join the PDP but I refused.”

“Mind you I am a professional politician; I have ideology so I have to protect my profession. I started as a local government counsellor in 1976 so this is my profession. So I still stand on what I believe. That was why I had to join PDP just to get my people to have a place where they can contest election. The same way Buhari finds himself in this system is the way I found myself in the PDP.”

“I will remain in PDP for as long as it is convenient. The APC is the same with PDP. I used to call them PDP 1 and PDP 2 because almost many of the people in PDP are now in APC and vice versa. For instance, the Number 2 man in PDP who ruled this country for eight years as a vice president is now in APC. If you count all the governors in APC, most of them were at one time or the other were in PDP. You can say so of at least two National Chairmen of PDP now in APC.”


SOURCE: http://nigeriabreakingnews.com.ng/i-will-remain-in-pdp-for-as-long-as-it-is-convenient-attahiru-bafarawa-of-dasukigate/

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My kind of man.. A dual-analytic mind.