Nigerians need to caution President on corruption fight - CAN

President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr. Samson Ayokunle, has encouraged Nigerians to call President Muhammadu Buhari out on the ineffectiveness of his anti-corruption campaign.

While speaking during an interview at the 12th convocation ceremony of Bowen University, Iwo in Osun State on Saturday, November 4, 2017, he said the president should pay more attention to the people working in his administration instead of just people outside his political camp.

While he commended the general attitude of the president's administration towards fighting corruption, he noted that there's more to do.

He said, "We need to caution the President in particular that the fight against corruption may not be too far away from around him. Those hands that are not right around him, he should be courageous enough to deal with them.

"The signs that we are seeing, because we are not babies, the hand writing that we are seeing is that he has to, first of all, he should deal with the corrupt persons around him before he will be able to deal with those in distant places. He is doing a good job in that area but he must do more."

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The CAN president also condemned the president's silence on the killings being perpetuated by Fulani herdsmen in the country, saying he has refused to do anything tangible to tackle their menace.

He said, "On the issue of herdsmen killing all over the country, the President has never done anything tangible and convincing about them. The herdsmen have been ravaging and sacking communities with reckless abandon. It appears that they are above the law. This is quite unfortunate. This administration must address that.

"These herdsmen have stopped the drums in many homes. Many homes are in sorrow and agony because their breadwinners have been massacred without anybody arresting their killers. I just came from Ancha village in Plateau State, where we had to do a mass burial for 19 people killed by these herdsmen.

"Up till now, no government official has visited that place. No action has been taken against these marauding herdsmen. Why? If the President is focusing on Boko Haram in the North-East but has not done anything against the killer herdsmen, that is unfortunate, especially when we know that these Fulani herdsmen are from his ethnic clan. He needs to act fast on these herdsmen."

The president has long been encouraged to take definitive action on spate of killings reportedly involving Fulani herdsmen.

Recently, Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, referred to states such as Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Adamawa as places where military actions should be focused as herdsmen have been responsible for killings and destruction of farmlands worth several billions of naira in those areas.