National chairman of LP, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam
Urges re-opening of Halliburton case
The leadership of the Labour Party yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to adopt a holistic approach in his anti-corruption crusade by ensuring that the probe of past administrations extends to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Bola Tinubu and former state governors.
Against the background of last Tuesday’s pledge by President Buhari to commence probe of looters of the public fund, Labour Party reminded the president of the unfinished probe of the Halliburton corruption scandal in which prominent politicians were implicated.
Speaking in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, the national chairman of LP, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, said the fight against corruption must be backed up with proper blueprint that will ensure that highly placed persons do not evade justice.
He said that President Buhari must try to probe everybody who has been petitioned, adding that government should revisit the Halliburton issue to enable Nigerians know the true position of things.
“I want to refer to the statement of the president yesterday when he said that looters, trials will begin very soon. Firstly, I want to state that it is a welcome idea and development in our fight against corruption, but the fundamental question is; what are the pragmatic mechanisms put in place by the Buhari administration and the APC to fight corruption. What is the blue print.
Abdulsalam said Buhari should know that Nigerians elected him because of his previous pedigree and should retain that sincerity of purpose to fight corruption and for this singular reason, he must go all out to fight corruption.
“He has to evolve a special means of fighting this corruption because the corruption we are talking about involves many people in high places. Fighting corruption must be comprehensive, not selective, not discriminatory, not biased and must be total and holistic.
“Fighting corruption must involve previous President Obasanjo, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the former governors” admonishing that if former Governor James Ibori is still languishing in jail, in Great Britain, then governors who served and are known to have looted this country, in whatever political party, should not be spared. Stating that “It is not proper that people would loot our money only to use the same money to recycle themselves and become our leaders again, it should not be allowed to happen”.
“At his age, he has nothing to fear. The corruption fight should involve Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Joshua Dariye, Bukola Saraki and all those governors now in the senate who are found to have looted our resources must be prosecuted. He should not limit the fight to only the NNPC.
“During the Obasanjo era, there was this PTDF scandal, he should go into that and probe it properly.
“I subscribe to the fact that everybody who has been petitioned should be probed. If EFCC must be honest and sincere to this country, they have the records of public officers who have served this country, they know who is a rogue and those that served diligently without tampering with public funds. A situation where salaries of workers have not been paid as a result of massive looting is unpardonable and should not be allowed to continue.
“Buhari should find out everything about Haliburton, he should let Nigerians know because Boko Haram insurgency is ongoing as a result of corruption in this country. People are enslaved today as a result of corruption in this country. Buhari should go all out to save and compensate Nigerians for appreciating what he did before by electing him to precide over the Nigeria state,” he said
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