'Money ran away faster than Usain Bolt under Jonathan', APC leader says

dimeji akinloye

November 16, 2017 6:01 PM

On the Boko Haram insurgency, Tinubu said the terrorists would have taken more territories, if Jonathan was still in power.

A National leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has described the

He said under the Jonathan government, money "ran away" faster than Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

Tinubu stated this on Thursday, November 16, 2017, while giving a keynote speech at the presentation of ‘Making Steady, Sustainable Progressive for Nigeria’s Peace and Prosperity: A mid-term scorecard on the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration’.

The book presentation was held at the state house conference center, Abuja.

On the Boko Haram insurgency, Tinubu said the terrorists would have taken more territories, which would result in more deaths, if Jonathan was still in power.

He said, "The prior government used the public treasury as a private hedge fund or a charity that limited its giving only to themselves.

"So much money grew feet and ran away faster than Usain Bolt ever could. That which could have been spent on national development was squandered in ways that would cause the devil to blush.

"One minister and her rogues’ gallery picked the pocket of this nation for billions of dollars. While poor at governance, these people could give a master thief lessons in the sleight of hand. In governance, they earned a red card but in corruption l, they won the gold medal.

"It was not that our institutions had become infected by corruption. Corruption has become institutionalized."

The former governor of Lagos State said that the ongoing anti-corruption war, which many Nigerians have scored low, has set an axe to "the root of this dangerous tree."

"We have much to do to combat this disease. Not only must we track down the takers. In the long term, we must review the salaries of public servants and create universal credits for our people to reduce temptation."

Some Nigerians, especially the opposition, have described the Buhari anti-corruption war as selective and largely unsuccessful.

The parameters by which the crusade was adjudged a failure is the inability of the anti-corruption agencies to successfully prosecute high profile corruption cases beyond the pages of newspapers.

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The opposition believes that Buhari is only witch-hunting members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while some of his allies, who are allegedly corrupt, are untouchable.

dimeji akinloye