President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that his administration’s anti-corruption crusade is already bearing fruits as many of the those who participated in the looting of public treasuries in the previous administration had started returning stolen funds to the coffers.
Speaking during a meeting with the Nigerian community on the sidelines of the ongoing Gas Exporting Countries’ Forum (GECF) summit in Tehran, Iran on Tuesday, Buhari said that though the government appreciated the development, but those culprits would still be prosecuted as returning the loot was still not enough to condone corruption.
He disclosed that the prosecution of corruption suspects is taking time because the government is painstakingly gathering hard evidence against them. “We are collecting documents and some of them have started voluntarily returning something. But we want all. When we get those documents we will formally charge them to court and then we will tell Nigerians to know those who abused trust when they are entrusted with public funds. So, the day of reckoning is gradually approaching”, he declared.
President Buhari, however, decried the constraints inherent in democracy, recalling that it was easier for him as a military Head of State in 1985 to arrest corrupt individuals and put in protective custody for them to prove their innocence than in the present democratic practice. He acknowledged that under the rule of law, the suspects are presumed innocent until convicted by the law.
By Olisemeka Obeche