The Chairman of the Presidential
Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay, has said
the federal government omitted some names from the list of alleged treasury
looters for strategic reasons.
Sagay, who is a Senior Advocate
of Nigeria (SAN), stated this during an interview on Channels Television
programme, Sunday Politics.
He accused some elites in the
country of being violent against the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu
Buhari’s administration.
The senior lawyer noted that
while the Federal Government was doing all it could in its resolve to rid
Nigeria of corruption, the so-called powerful persons were frustrating the
effort.
“Government might not have
mentioned the names of some individuals due to ‘strategic’ reasons but such
reasons would unravel themselves in the course of time.
“Nigerians must, however, know
this government has poured its heart and might into fighting corruption, but
corruption has fought back.
“And the shocking aspect is that
it is the elites, the educated, the powerful who have been fighting this
government. They have been so violent in the opposition to the fight against
corruption that one is even shocked,” he said.
Despite the challenges of the
anti-corruption campaign and the strength of the opposition, the PACAC chairman
said he was impressed with the success recorded so far.
He disclosed further that a lot
of looted assets have been recovered by the government and that part of them
was used to fund the current budget.
Professor Sagay also reacted to
the recent list of alleged looters published by the government. Amid the mixed
reaction triggered by the list, the senior advocate noted that there was
nothing wrong with it.
He recalled that a court had
ordered the government to publish the names of those who have looted the
nation’s resources, saying the disclosure was in accordance with the court’s
directive and to address the issue of public interest.
The lawyer said he would not be
surprised if more names of alleged looters surface, stressing that “there is a
very large number of these people who presided over the looting of the assets
of this country.”
He was also confident that the
judges handling corruption cases cannot be influenced by the views of other
people as they have the knowledge to make their own opinion on the facts of the
case before them.
Reacting to those who have
condemned the list, he said, “It’s a free society, the government has provided
its own list.
“Those who are complaining must
surely know the persons who are omitted from the list. So, let them bring out
their own list and let them correct the list which is incomplete.”
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