He said there
is no end in sight in the investigation against corrupt officers, since
corruption does to only stop at stealing, but involves other day-to-day actions
of individuals.
Kukah had in
August flayed the Buhari administration in the fight against treasury looters,
where he said Nigeria has other critical issues of governance to deal with
other than spending long period in the fight against corruption.
His comment
however drew a lot of reactions from Nigerians, with many criticizing the
Bishop of shielding friends, while others said he was simply not comfortable
with the investigation.
But during an
interview with BBC Hausa monitored at the weekend, the bishop said he was misunderstood
by Nigerians and that there is the need for the federal government to
stabilise the country first, instead of embarking on the long journey of
investigation.
“What I said
was that, I didn’t say that corrupt officials shouldn’t be probed, but I said,
we should put it in mind that the nation was yet to be on track and now look at
what is happening in the Igbo area, when we do not finish with OPC, militants
and others.
“I said this
journey is a long one and I said we have to remember that we are no longer in
military era, this is democracy, where there are rules, lawyers and other
things.
“If you
listen to what the president is dishing out it like he pleading with lawyers
for is help. Because when you discover someone who stole $1 billion, he can hire
a lawyer that Nigeria cannot hire. But people reacted to what I said and this
is the beauty of democracy. Everybody has freedom of speech,” he said.
He said lack
of basic amenities in a country is enough to breed other social vices,
pointing out that it is more imperative to focus on the provision of
basic services than in probes.
“You know
Buhari, people are talking about body language. Everybody has understood where
we are heading, but the time we reach remains unknown. We have to all
understand the present situation; corruption is not just stealing
money.
“I am not
saying we shouldn’t wage this war, but you can’t be silent of the whereabouts
of your troops in a war. But people went and said we don’t want the fight
against corruption because we are accomplice,” he said.
On the
insurgency in the country, Kukah said actions and unfulfilled promises of
northern politicians provided safe haven for the emergency of Boko Haram
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