PDP to Tinubu: After benefitting, you lack moral rights to fight corruption
By Tunde Opalana
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday slammed the President- elect , Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over a statement that he will fight corruption upon assumption of office.
The party described Tinubu as unqualified to fight corruption because he has allegedly benefitted immensely from corruption and that his election is a proceed of corrupt process.
According to the party, sensible Nigerians are alarmed, scandalized and embarrassed by Tinubu’s claim that he will fight corruption in the country.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate had on Thursday claimed his government will fight corruption at the commissioning of some judiciary projects in Rivers State,
Addressing the press in Abuja on Friday , the National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba said the statement is completely sacrilegious and an assault on the sensibility of Nigerians, “having regards to his records of alleged corruption and having been described variously as an embodiment of corruption in his public life.”
The PDP claimed that as Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Tinubu “promoted and institutionalized corruption as an act of governance”, while adding that “it is on record that Senator Tinubu is alleged to be deeply involved in the infamous cases involving Alpha Beta Consulting Limited and Alpha Beta LLP, allegedly owned and controlled by him and through which over N100 billion belonging to Lagos State was reportedly stolen through shady tax collection deals.”
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Reeling out further allegations against Tinubu, the PDP said “It is also public knowledge that there has been numerous allegations and evidence of corruption and complicity by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the declaration of Senator Tinubu as winner of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election. Today Nigerians and indeed the world believe that that declaration was a product of corruption of the Process, Institutions and the Law by the APC and its Presidential candidate.
“It is therefore ludicrous that an individual who has been widely alleged to be an enabler and beneficiary of corruption can attempt to put himself forward to Nigerians as a champion of anti-corruption. Of course, corruption cannot fight corruption!”
The party stated further that if Tinubu is desirous of fighting corruption, the starting point “should be that he publicly and personally address Nigerians on the numerous allegations of corruption, including the Alpha Beta cases and alleged improper acquisition and conversion of Lagos State Government landed properties worth billions of naira to himself, family, associates and cronies.
“Clearly, Senator Tinubu’s pontification or claims on corruption is a further attempt to corrupt, cultivate, patronize, lure and compromise the Judiciary ahead of the commencement of the hearing of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Monday, May 8, 2023 and nothing more.”
The PDP therefore called on the judiciary to be wary of attempts by the APC and its presidential candidate “to patronize them in the course of the discharge of their Constitutional duties as impartial arbiter, particularly in the pending Petition before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”
Recall that Tinubu during the inauguration of the Magistrate Courts Complex in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
promise that his administration would make corruption unattractive for judges and other legal officials by putting in place incentives and comfortable policies .
According to a statement by one of his media aides, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, Tinubu said right incentives will guarantee conducive working atmosphere.
“You don’t expect your judges to live in squalor, to operate in squalor and dispense justice in squalor. This is part of the changes that are necessary. We must fight corruption but we must definitely look at the other side of the coin.
“If you don’t want your judges to be corrupt, you got to pay attention to their welfare. You don’t want them to operate in hazardous conditions,” Tinubu was quoted to have said.
