Go after corrupt PDP, APC members, others he urges Buhari

By Henry Umoru

SENATOR Domingo Obende,  has said that for President Muhammadu Buhari to succeed in his anti-corruption crusade, he must go after all corrupt Nigerians irrespective of  of their political, religious and ethnic affiliation.

Senator Obende, who represented Edo North in the Seventh Senate where he was deputy chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, said that the anti-graft searchlight must be holistic in nature.

He said that President Buhari must also go after  civil servants, alleging that they cannot be exonerated from corruption in the system.

Answering questions from Journalists  in Abuja shortly after he received the African Achievers’ Award from the leader of the group, Rex Ibaminabo, Senator Obende, a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC urged the president to appoint those who will not steal as ministers. On the 2016 Edo State Governorship election, Senator Obende, said the APC would come out victorious in spite of  the fact that the PDP has two of the three senators in the state.

Different body language

He said: ”For me corruption has no relationship; whether it is APC, PDP, any body irrespective of your religion, as long as you are corrupt the person should be brought to book. I do not see the president  having a different body language.

Domingo Obende

”He is somebody who has developed over the years with the kind of aura he carries. I think that his commitment to fight corruption should not be choked up. It should be encouraged by every Nigerian and there should not be any hiccup on the way. He should continue to fight corruption.

“The search light definitely is on all those that must have been perceived to have acquired wealth that can never be explained. When you do that, then of course you go into the civil service. There is honestly no businessman that will go into any ministry to steal their money.

”It must be a bargain between two people and if it is a bargain between two people and this bargain is evil, it is ruining the nation then  the president should not have any break in having to investigate who are these people that are siphoning the money of this country.”

On the kind of Nigerians that should be appointed as ministers, Senator Obende said: “Anybody that is corrupt shouldn’t be in his government. Anybody  that has no fear of God has no business being in this government because this is the government that has been destined to take Nigeria from the foundation of irresponsible behaviour.

“And since this government is just going to do that, I am of the view that the president will carefully select ministers that will deliver, not  ministers that will go and steal. We need ministers that will do the job, they will stay in their offices, when there are complaints, people will find human beings to complain to. Those are the kind of ministers everybody is expecting him to bring on board his cabinet.”

On Edo politics, he said: ”For now, we are trying to reorganise ourselves to find a successor for our performing comrade governor and it is going to be all involving. I do not think it is going to be a one man business and that is why I always tell people that together we can take Edo to the next level. And taking Edo to the next level is not a one man business; it is a collective business that will bring about responsibility to all of us.

On how  prepared  APC is to maintain Edo State with PDP having two Senators, he said: “Having two senatorial seats does not suggest that they can claim Edo.  If you check, Edo was won even when they had two senatorial seats, when Uzamure and Ugbesia were there, we still won Edo. So now, for only Senator Francis Alimikhena standing there for APC, does not suggest that they are going to win it.

“And once more, the performance of the president is what will  tilt the votes and right now you can see that the president has started on a good footing and the foundation he has laid will enable us to harness votes from a couple of people that did not vote for us before. For me, APC will continue to claim Edo any time any day.”

On his message to the Senators, the former lawmaker  said: “What is the biggest issue that brings down the senators? It is oversight. I want my colleagues to perform their oversight functions very well because the National Assembly has a way of bringing about some kind of credibility to government and when oversight functions are done very well, projects are carried out. Then, the government will be seen as a performing government. So it is my desire and wish for them not to relent in doing their over sight.”

On what the award meant to him, Senator Obende enthused: “I think it is more work because for the little I thought I was doing I am being recognised. So in other words I should know that somebody somewhere is watching me and so I need to keep doing much more than I was doing.”

On whether the anti-graft probe will not slow down governance, he said, “a good government is not a government that deals with a segment of the economy. I think a government deals with all the segments of the economy. So corruption for me is just one part and I don’t think the president is going to spend all his years, the whole  four years fighting corruption.