Barely 24 hours after Federal
Government ordered the prosecution of all those indicted by the report of
investigation into the sale of the nation’s steel firms, President Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua yesterday declared that nobody would be spared in the ongoing
clampdown on corrupt officials.
Apparently refering to both former and
serving public officials, the President insisted that anybody whose actions,
while in office failed to align with the rules/laws governing such office
would not be allowed to go scot free, no matter how highly placed the person
is.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting with
former President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, President
Yar’Adua expressed disappointment that corruption has grown in the country
insisting that all offenders will not go un-punished.
President Yar’Adua remarked that
corruption thrived in the country because many people disregarded the laws
and regulations without being punished insisting it "whether you are a
president, governor or office clerk you can not be bigger than the law."
"We reached a situation where
disrespect for laws and established regulations became a status symbol but I
am now insisting that whether you are president, governor or a mere office
clerk, all your actions must flow from the laws that govern your office.
"Our goal is to make it apparent to
all Nigerians that from the President down to the lowest official, nobody
can disregard the law and get away with it," he said.
He told the visiting former American
leader that his administration is determined to root out "the culture of
impunity" which enables corruption to thrive in the country.
"Our problem has never been laws or
regulations on issues of corruption. The problem has been the enforcement of
these laws and regulations, he added.
He also reaffirmed government
commitment to reforming the nation’s electoral processes, stressing that
there is growing realisation that a stable political system anchored on
credible elections is a prerequisite for meaningful socio-economic
development.
The President said he expected
election tribunals to have concluded their work by this July so that the
National Electoral Reform Panel can move into the critical phase of its
work.
President Carter, who was accompanied
by his wife Roselyn, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms. Robin
Sanders, and other officials of the Carter Centre in Atlanta, said he looked
forward to working with President Yar’Adua on health issues and the
reformation of the electoral process.
