Eliminating or eradicating corruption should not be conducted in the
shadows of secrecy.

It is worrisome to learn from the pages of newspapers, that the
president and high officials of the Nigerian government may now be in
possession of hard evidence connecting some current governors of states in
Nigeria with corrupt activities and corrupt enrichment. If this is the
case, it is my belief, that the president will be more convincing, by
making full and material disclosure of evidence connecting any governor or
other Nigerian officials to the crime of corruption.

After all, the president has always, insisted instead, that he needed
specific information to enable him pursue corrupt persons? When
information is supplied by Nigerians at home or abroad or others, who are
support of the president’s crusade against corruption, the president must be
agile, he must act promptly, he must not be seen or appear to be
vacillating or negotiating with corrupt persons, he must fight corruption in
every nooks and crannies, every facets of Nigerian life… he must do so
without hesitation.

The president will lend more credibility to his avowed war on
corruption.

We have heard speculations of a state governor being arrested in London
with millions of dollars/pounds which the governor could not explain as
legitimate earnings, we have also heard of governors that are engaged
in frequent junkets, overseas birthdays and sundry owambe parties!
Speculations or rumors are rife, that the PDP appears to treat all these, as
family affairs, because the governors engaged in these criminal and
disgraceful misconducts, are of the PDP ruling party!

But I trust that the president’s heart is in the right place and that
he means well, the president must as a matter of urgency reveal the
names of corrupt governors, the errant governors should serve as examples
of those who deserved to be sacrificed on the altar of anti corruption
crusade and the long overdue house cleaning that our country has been
waiting for…we surly need house cleaning!

The president must realize that Nigeria’s national interests supercedes
individual or political party interests, our national interest are more
important, over and above, the internal affairs of PDP or the
individual governors that are seemingly being protected or shielded, at the
expense the interests of more than 120 million Nigerians!

President Obasanjo for the sake of Nigeria and his own legacy, must
distance himself from governors and PDP members, who are agents of avarice
and greed, it is clearly unedifying, for someone who champions and
crusades against corruption, to make exceptions for certain categories of
persons, such as the governors in question.

Nigerians have questioned the source of wealth of former head of state,
Mr. Ibrahim Babangida, some have gone as far as, adding that, Mr.
Obasanjo knows of IBB’s corruption and source of wealth, but Mr. Obasanjo
has chosen to look the other way, because IBB is his friend and godfather
and election sponsor and now, instead of investigating IBB, so that IBB
can explain the source of his wealth or defend himself, he is now
actually flaunting it, as he is planning to muscle and cajole his way to the
presidency in 2007 and unfortunately, Nigerians are not as yet asking
or holding IBB to account; Have we suffered some collective amnesia?

Is it not inelegant and even sublime, to proclaim an all out war on
corruption, while excusing some privileged few, from prosecution, does
this not make nonsense of the president’s self-avowed crusade to rid
Nigeria of corruption. I still want to believe that Mr. Obasanjo is serious
about fighting corruption, but I am very agitated by the continued
protections of certain individuals who are neck-deep in corruption. And
where is the Mr. Pius Okigbo panel report? All these, are beginning to
look like a pattern.

The governors of Plateau state and Edo state have been mentioned in
many circles, regarding insufficiently explained activities, involving
large sums of monies, that most probably belongs to tax payers in their
different states, Vanguard newspapers of Nigeria, only this last
Saturday, reported, credible suspicions of untoward activities by certain
Nigeria governors and other public officials, who are being shielded from
prosecution, those involved in these criminal activities are being
encouraged to bask in their corrupt activities, as the anti corruption
crusaders have unwittingly assured the criminal protection, simply because
they are PDP family members?

Let us punish our friends, if they are part of the ruination that
Nigeria have been going through and continues to bear/endure.

President Obasanjo must clear the air, regarding the now rampant
speculations about corrupt governors and other public officials, regardless
of what political party the corrupt officials belong, the president
should or ought to see this as a matter of his own personal integrity, and
the sorts of legacy he seeks to bequeaths on Nigerians and Nigeria from
now, until the end of his term in 2007.

Most Nigerians and I, strongly believe the eradication of corruption,
will be worthy achievement and legacy by President Obasanjo, as
corruption is the singular bane on the path of Nigeria’s path to progress,
development and advancement; President Obasanjo must fight corruption
meaningfully, vigorously and with blinders on, he must fight corruption, in
PDP, within family and friends and everywhere else… fight corruption,
sparing no one, and history will judge President Obasanjo creditably
well.

If speculations about corruption by governors and other officials are
untrue, the president must address the rumors, instead of allowing it to
fester and grow and take quantum leaps

The president must operate in the open, which the essence of
accountability and transparency par excellence.

All Nigerians must fight corruption more meaningfully and forcefully