THE civil society groups and individuals have passed a disparaging judgment on President Goodluck Jonathan’s 100 days in office, alleging lack of drive and commitment to make the anti-corruption war effective.

In a press conference in Lagos co-ordinated by the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), speakers, in unmistakeable terms condemned the president’s seeming tolerance of corrupt practices and individuals in his government and the country at large.

The co-ordinating chairman of the group, Debo Adeniran, said that while subsisting advertisements, news features and editorials in the media may have painted a picture of commitment to fight corruption[b], ‘the president has not gained appreciable mileage in the nation’s unrelenting war against corruption.’[/b]

He said that despite the disapproving report on anti-corruption effort of the nation by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently, the president ‘has not deemed it fit to do anything significant to remedy the deteriorating situation.’

Since the report was made, Adeniran added that it was unbecoming of a leader to simply keep mum over it while appearing to condone corrupt acts and impunity of his aides and ministers.

Jonathan, he said, must remove the shrouds of mystery used to mask government operation from public scrutiny that became even more appalling with the passage of Freedom of Information (FoI) bill into law.

Citing media reports, he accused Jonathan, some critical public agencies and officers ‘such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and their CEOs, Lamido Sanusi and Diezani Allison- Madueke of lacking in “transparency and full disclosure” and being “opaque and inaccessible”.’

CACOL expressed worries that this increased lack of transparency in government business and trans- action has adversely affected the nation’s security and the achievement of the objectives of amnesty programme initiated in the Niger Delta.

It accused the president of not doing much to ameliorate the plight of Niger Delta, the region where incidentally he comes from.

Comrade Ayodele Akele described Nigeria as a country of paradoxes, saying that Goodluck Jonathan’s repeated assurances to tackle corruption squarely has never been complemented with action since his 100 days in office.

‘There are no results on corruption cases. There are carnages on our roads because of corruption. Corruption is worse than bombing in comparison to the menace the Boko Haram religious sect constitutes.

Children cannot go to school, the hospitals are in shambles as a result of corruption and we hold the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria responsible for the slow pace in the fight against corruption,’ he said.

In his speech at the event, Rev. Austin Nnorom, the Secretary of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) chided the president for failing to chart a serious course to take Nigeria to the trans- formational level.

‘It is disheartening that after 100 days in office, the president has no clear-cut agenda to ensure that corruption in this country is brought to a halt.

We want to see more transparency and a president who shows more commitment to fight corruption. Nigerians and the entire world are watching him.’

He added that Nigeria needs to get the issue of corruption right at the top from where it will cascade down to other spheres.

Adeniran, however, pointed out that though EFCC and ICPC have themselves stepped up fight against corruption and had achieved more convictions in recent time. He added that if the presidency had not been bearing down on them they could have achieved about “four hundred per cent” more than what they have done so far.


CACOL sounds a note of warn- ing that if the president fails to buckle up, civil society groups would engage him in an exhaust- ing war.
‘Should the president fail to tackle corruption, he should be pre- pared to face us eyeball to eyeball,’ it warned.

The attitude of some of the president’s ministers and aides received round condemnation for exhibiting lack of transparency in conduct and body language.


The CACOL chairman condemned their snobbish and arrogant treatment of the media and civil society groups. It demanded ‘that Lamido Sanusi and Diezani Allison-Madueke, especially, be ordered to be more transparent and accountable to the Nigerian people they are meant to serve.’

CACOL asked the Federal Government to immediately release the report of Oronsaye Panel ‘that
probed the allegations of impropriety against Chibuzor Ugwoha et al, of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC),’ saying that ‘urgent justice be done in bringing any individual indicted in the report to book.’

Commenting on the matter, Abiodum Sowumi, Executive Director, African Centre for Labour Research (ACLR), said Jonathan should not contemplate dissolving NDDC because Oronsaye Panel may have exposed the inherent sleaze.

‘It is quite important for the president to send a clear signal that coruption will not be tolerated in his tenure. The refusal to release the report of Oronsaye Panel is send- ing the wrong signal to the public,’ he stated.

Concurring, the secretary-general of United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDESS) also said the fight against corruption needs to be seen and not just whispered.

Tony Uranta who also is a member of CACOL said ‘corruption has not been fought visibly in the last one hundred days.

President Jonathan may have very good intensions. In fact, I know that he has very good intensions but his helmsmen in charge of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are bedevilling us with mass ineptitude, inefficiency and gross corruption.

‘A case in question is that of the NDDC. We are all worried about Boko Haram but let us be mindful of two things: none of the issues that led to the agitation in the Niger Delta region has been resolved to date.

That is because the Ministry of Niger Delta and the NDDC have not been working as expected.

http://www.momentng.com/en/news/3928/-civil-society-groups-knock-jonathan-on-anti-corruption-war.html