All Progressives Congress, APC chieftain and global security expert, Ambassador Abayomi Nurain Mumuni has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to see his re-election as an opportunity to further deepen and improve his anti-corruption credentials.
In a release issued Wednesday by his media aide, Rasheed Abubakar, such a move, Mumuni stated will help to improve Nigeria’s global perception, and dispel concerns from some quarters over the selectiveness of President Buhari’s anti-corruption fight.
“It is evident that President Buhari rode on the back of his widely perceived history of integrity and sincerity to victory in this election. As such, this presents yet another shot for the President at cleaning Nigeria’s longstanding Augean stables of corruption, and this time – very importantly – without caring whose ox is gored.
“Complaints of President Buhari’s selectivity in favour of his party members in the anti-corruption fight have marred his otherwise unblemished record of public probity, and international appraisals of Nigeria’s corruption index. It is time to get rid of this corruption baggage once and for all, and from within and without the APC”, Mumuni said.
The former Lagos gubernatorial candidate of the defunct CPC also urged President Buhari to intensify his efforts at his on-going infrastructure drive nationwide, so as not to leave a legacy of unfinished and barely conceived projects at the end of his administration, an albatross which plagued the previous Goodluck Jonathan PDP government.
“President Buhari should be commended for not towing the line of his predecessors by abandoning uncompleted but critical infrastructural projects. In this regard, I would implore him to seize the opportunity of his now-secured second tenure to complete all the infrastructure projects he inherited from his predecessors, and the ones he initiated himself.
“That way, he would have written his name in gold in the annals of Nigeria’s history, and he and his party will be remembered in positive perpetuity for bequeathing to Nigeria a massive wealth of infrastructure at the end of his second and final term in office”, he said.
Amb. Mumuni, who is also the Jagunmolu of Lagos, further urged President Buhari to do away with ethnic and politically partisan sentiments in the course of appointing key aides who would work with him in sensitive parastatals of government, while advising him to give preference to skill levels, pedigree and integrity regarding such matters.
“Just like every other government, the immediate aftermath of every election victory witnesses a frantic scramble for the “spoils of war”, with respect to appointments, contracts and other opportunities.
President Buhari must be careful and perspicacious at this time, and he should choose only those who are of proven dexterity, experience and probity to work with him in the most important sectors of governance and public service delivery.
“I also hope he will use the opportunity of such appointments to unite Nigerians better under his government, while alleviating the complaints of ethnic and religious marginalisation that rocked his first tenure,” he added.