Jonathan’s Govt Supports Corruption, APC Backs Speaker Tambuwal

The All Progressives Congress, Tuesday said Speaker Aminu Tambuwal displayed patriotism and dedication to the nation for speaking out concerning the way the Jonathan government was handling the corruption.

Speaker Tambuwal had at an event organised by the Nigerian Bar Association to mark the 2013 International Anti-Corruption Day, said President Jonathan supports corruption.

In a statement  by  its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party urged President Goodluck Jonathan  to see  the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu  Tambuwal’s criticism of  his administration as a wake-up call.

The party said Tambuwal and President Jonathan belong to the same political party(Peoples Democratic Party), but this did not deter  the speaker  from rising above crass partisanship when the issue involved borders on national interest.

The opposition party said Tambuwal has shown that he is indeed the Speaker of the House of Representatives and that the entire country is his constituency as corruption it alleges had eaten deeper into the national fabric  since   Jonathan  came to power.

‘’We have raised the same issues raised by the Speaker several times in our regular intervention, but the administration has dismissed our concerns on the altar of partisanship.

“However, now that no less a personality than the country’s number four citizen and a top member of the PDP is the one raising the issue, and coming against the background of Nigeria’s slide in the 2013 rankings released recently by the global anti-corruption body Transparency International, we hope the administration will realise that it has only been paying a lip service to the anti-graft battle, and perhaps make amends.”

The party cited the the fuel subsidy scam, the pension scam, the fraud involving the excess crude account and Oduahgate scandal .

It said‘’These are slam dunk corruption cases that should have been handed over to the anti-corruption agencies for summary disposal. Instead, the President – thinking Nigerians will merely scream and forget after some time  engages in his usual distracting method of setting up committees, the report of which he will then put away to gather dust until another corruption case rears its ugly head.”