Akinjide bombs governors

• Says, they’re biggest thieves

BY Doris Obinna

SECOND Republic Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), has sen­sationally accused gover­nors of corruption, calling them “the biggest thieves.”

Speaking in an explo­sive interview on Gal­axy Television yesterday, Akinjide said states are broke because governors are stealing money.

The legal icon said states are not able to pay salaries because “they are stealing. The biggest thieves are the governors.”

He said states get bil­lions of naira allocation, but in the end, the money is taken away.

Saying that the critical things in life are honesty and integrity, Akinjide said most of those who find themselves in govern­ment lack honour, just as he also blamed poverty for the corruption in govern­ment.

Asked what he knows about the controversial Third Term bid of for­mer President Olusegun Obasanjo, Akinjide said that even an ex-Secretary of State in the United States acknowledged in his book that Obasanjo did tell them about it.

According to him, the former United States Sec­retary of State devoted many pages of his book to their encounter with Obasanjo on his Third Term ambition, saying that if the former president denied that he ever want­ed and bidded for tenure elongation, “it is left for you and I to decide wheth­er to believe him or not.”

Akinjide said there was nothing wrong with the emergence of Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Sen­ate President respectively, as they were duly elected.

On the allegation by the All Progressives Con­gress (APC) that the elec­tion of Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker, House of Representatives, was an act of treachery, Akin­jide accused the party of unnecessary sentiment, saying there’s a difference between party politics and governance.

“The sentiment on treachery is nonsense,” he said, adding that the National Assembly op­erates with rules, which was followed in the elec­tion of Saraki, Dogara and Ekweremadu.

Akinjide opposed the proposal for part-time leg­islators, saying that the job at the National Assembly should be full-time.

He advised President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the report of the National Conference, saying that government is a continuum, while sup­porting the creation of new states, as recommended by the National Conference, making special case for Ibadan state.

The legal luminary said there is nothing wrong with the 1999 Constitu­tion, saying that Nigeri­ans should “get their acts together and behave like gentlemen.”

Akinjide said there is no political ideology in the country because of “poverty, lack of educa­tion,” saying: “We are not monolithic. We have Yo­ruba, Igbo, Hausa/Fulani and others. We have many tribes making up Nigeria. We have a situation where there are many factors at work, but the critical thing is the word, leadership”

On leadership crisis in the country, the former at­torney general said: “We have always had it. We had it in the First Republic. That’s why there was civil war, which was bloody.”

On his expectation about Nigeria, he said: “I want a strong country with strong economy.”

He said that Nigeria can work hard to overtake other nations in buoyant economy, saying: “China moved from behind to number two economy in 20 years. Singapore also moved from the back to the front.”

For Nigeria to perform such feat, he said: “We need the right leadership. If we put our third eleven, we would get third eleven result.”