Lawan: Those who accuse Buhari’s govt of corruption are petty

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has described those who say corruption is prevalent under the Buhari administration as petty.

Lawan spoke on Monday after the second national summit on diminishing corruption and the launch of the national ethics and integrity policy by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

He said the current administration has done “so well”, adding that no previous government ever hinged its campaigns on fighting corruption like the Buhari-led government.

He said the current administration never leaves corruption cases unattended.

“I don’t know who they are and I don’t know what their facts are. But I will not speak to speculations; I speak to facts. I want to see the facts that there’s more corruption in this administration than the previous administrations,” Lawan said.

“You will recall that in a particular former administration, we know that somebody once said that what people accused the government of corruption was simple stealing. This administration does not see anything that appears like corruption or thievery and leaves it untreated. So, I believe it depends on who is talking.

“If you have opposition, it is likely the opposition will tell you there’s so much ‘persecution’ of the opposition, that there’s so much corruption in this administration than the previous one. But we know the previous administrations.

“Let me be a bit more decent and maybe non-political. But I want to tell you that this administration has done so well because we campaigned on the basis of three pillars of anti-corruption, the fight against insurgency and insecurity across the country, and the revitalisation of our economy.

“So, no administration or political party, in the history of Nigeria that fought its campaigns on the basis of fighting corruption in Nigeria. In fact, there were administrations that never mentioned corruption in their entire tenure.

“This administration has stood firmly, trying to fight corruption, and I want to believe that those who are saying there’s more corruption in Nigeria today than before are simply trying to be partisan or petty.”