Recovered loots are being ‘relooted’ under Buhari – CITAD boss

By SANI IBRAHIM PAKI

The Executive Director, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Dr Yunusa Z. Ya’u, has alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption fight is not yielding the desired result because it is personalised and politicised.

He said even though the country has made one of the biggest recoveries of looted funds globally, the recovered items are being relooted.

Ya’u was speaking at a public lecture organised by Interfaith Network Against Corruption (INAC) to commemorate the 2021 anti-corruption day in Kano over the weekend.

According to him, “Part of the challenges of Buhari’s anti-corruption fight is that it is personalised and politicised; only him determines who is corrupt and what is corruption.

“It is now commonly believed that all politicians with pending corruption cases who join the ruling party are eventually ‘forgiven’.

“There is also the issue of a plea-bargain, where anti-corruption agencies reconcile with those who stole funds to return them without being tried in court.

“Billions have been recovered through this way, but nobody could account for them,” he alleged.

The CITAD boss also said the whistleblowing policy of incentivising those who expose corruption is not working, either because the blowers are not guaranteed their safety, or the corrupt people give them more money to keep quiet.

Dr Ya’u also lamented that legislators, civil society organisations and the media are not playing their part to complement the fight.

Earlier, the INAC co-chairmen, the Chief Imam of Al-Furqan Mosque in Kano, Dr Bashir Aliyu Umar, and the Archbishop of Kano Diocese, Rev. John Namaza Niyiring, said fighting corruption required a collective effort of all stakeholders to succeed. (Daily Trust)