Nigerians must be vigilant, ask the right questions ahead of 2019 - Adeniran

Nigerians must be vigilant, ask the right questions ahead of 2019 - Adeniran

- Debo Adeniran, the head of CACOL, says Nigeria remains riddled with challenges handed down by successive governments

- Adeniran thinks Nigerians must now see the war against corruption as a fight to be taken personal

- He warns the citizens to be mindful of those they elect into political offices in 2019

The executive chairman of the Centre for Anti-corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Debo Adeniran, has asked Nigerians to be very vigilant in the coming days as politicians come to them for their votes.

He however argued that even though President Muhammadu Buhari may not be the best, as claimed by some people, he had done enough within the last three years to warrant him being called a champion, especially in the area of the war against corruption.

"The reason we are saying Buhari has been the best when it comes to the fight against corruption is because of what he did when he was in the military and what he is currently doing.

READ ALSO: 200 different groups declare support for Buhari ahead 2019, blast Obasanjo

"We know a few people that contested with him in 2015 and their antecedents," he said while arguing that for now, the country does not have an alternative.

"This administration might not have done much, but the little the president has been able to do has made him the champion," he said at a press conference on Wednesday, January 31, in Lagos attended by Legit.ng and other journalists.

Adeniran congratulated Buhari over his recognition at the African Union as a champion of anti-corruption. He urged Nigerians to support the president as he cannot do it alone.

"We strongly believe that body language, integrity, and personal examples as exemplary as they may seem are never enough to deter corruption. The crusade must move to the next phase, it must become massified, owner by the entire nation," he said.

Debo however listed some challenges facing the country to include an economy that is lying prostrate, poor infrastructure and insecurity of lives and properties.

Concerning infrastructure, he said successive administrations in the country had robbed the people over the years.

"Our social infrastructure and amenities like roads, power, water, health, education, libraries and mass housing were victims of rudderless policies.

"Even when a state like Lagos took it upon itself to ensure that federal roads are motorable, the government refused to reimburse such states," he said.

He lamented the current situations with the power sector.

"As a matter of fact, between January 1 and 8, the national grid collapsed six times.

"Since December last year (2017), Nigerians have been experiencing another round of fuel scarcity despite assurance from the government. It persists across the nation with a litre of petrol going as high as N200 to N400 as against N145.

"Paradoxically, while hapless Nigerians groan under the yokes of deteriorating conditions which is grievously escalated by the fuel crisis as prices of household items particularly food skyrocket, the government, through its minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, is parading jumbled statistics of improved economy with a foreign reserve of $40 billion," he alleged.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigeria’s #1 new app

Adeniran also lamented that despite huge sums spent on the nation's refineries, none is functioning well.

Concerning security, he said the nation was in war with itself.

He said to avoid the mistakes of the past, nobody should be given free mandate without critical interrogation of the person's profile and manifestos that can be used to hold him while he is in office.

Legit.ng earlier reported how Debo Adeniran recently described President Muhammadu Buhari as the best option for the 2019 presidential election.

The reportquoted Adeniran as saying Buhari remains the best among the pack of politicians eyeing the presidency.

Who is Nigeria's greatest president ever? - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng

Online view pixel