The Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks has berated President Muhammadu Buhari for granting pardon to two former state governors serving jail terms for official corruption.
In a joint press statement signed by Ibrahim Waiya and Amb. Ibrahim Yusuf, chairman and secretary respectively, the conference of civil society networks said Buhari’s action is a disservice to the nation and a breach of social contract with the Nigerian people on whose mandate he currently enjoys as a president.
They described the state pardon granted former Governor Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame as “unfortunate, shocking and at best, paradoxical”.
“It has come to our notice that, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, has through the council of states pardoned two former state governors who were jailed for stealing public funds in 2018 and were yet to serve half the length of their jail terms in prison.
“This is rather unfortunate, shocking and at best, paradoxical coming from a man who rode to the corridor of power under the guise of anti- corruption.
“Corruption, over the years in Nigeria, had gradually succeeded in causing a loss of trust and a breakdown of social capital in governance. We all know that corruption is a threat to development, democracy and stability. It distorts markets, curbs economic growth and discourages foreign investment. It erodes public services and trust in government officials.
“In recent time, the anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria, most especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has given Nigerians hope through her diligent prosecution of high profile corruption cases, where the current chairman had to stand in the witness box for several hours to ensure corrupt individuals are brought to book.
“AbdulRasheed Bawa recovered over ten billion naira, several properties and secured 185 convictions across EFCC zonal offices in just 100 days in office. He also launched an application called ‘Eagle Eye’ to ease the reporting of corrupt cases for swift response.
“Statistics has it that the lack of job opportunities is at the core of the high poverty levels, regional inequality, and social and political unrest in Nigeria. High inflation has also taken a toll on household’s welfare and high prices. The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics said in 2020 that 40% or 83 million Nigerians live in poverty. Although Nigeria’s poverty profile for 2021 has not yet been released, it is estimated that the number of poor people will increase to 90 million, or 45% of the population, in 2022.
“One would have thought that the current administration will pre-occupy itself solving the economic woos of the nation, rather than reversing the anti- corruption achievement and dampening the resolve of relevant agencies in Nigeria.
“The Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks wishes to remind His Excellency the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of his word “If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us”.
“We are aware of the level at which corruption had succeeded in undermining the fairness of institutions and processes and distorted policies and priorities. As a result, if permitted to continuously thrive, corruption will damage in entirety the legitimacy of regimes leading to a total loss of public support and trust for state and government institutions,” the statement said.
The civil society network called on President Buhari to reverse himself and prevent total loss of public trust in governance.
The Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks is a forum of states based civil society networks operating in the Nineteen Northern states of Nigeria. The establishment of the platform was conceived in 2017, and inaugurated on 28th March, 2021 as a regional network of non-governmental, non-partisan, not for profit, non-ethnic and non-religious platform, with the sole objective of advocating for the best practices of democracy, accountable governance and increased development of Northern Nigeria and beyond through policy influencing, cooperation and team work.
The platform has over three thousand (3,000), affiliated individual civil society member organizations across the nineteen Northern States.
