Use your votes to support anti corruption war- MURIC urges Nigerians
Use your votes to support anti corruption war- MURIC urges Nigerians
By Kabir Muhammad
Corruption
Abuja, March 7, 2019 (NAN) As Nigerians prepare to go to poll on Saturday to elect governors and state House of Assembly members,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has urged the electorate to manifest their patriotism by using their votes in support of the war against
corruption.
This is contained in a statement signed by MURIC Director Prof. Ishaq Akintola and issued on Thursday, in Abuja.
“Nigerian voters have the right to be properly enlightened about the need to vote at all and to vote right. It is about a better tomorrow.
It is about ensuring that our children do not suffer from poverty, disease, darkness, ignorance and joblessness the way we were made to
suffer.
“It is about insulating the coming generation of Nigerians against the ‘wasted generation’ phenomenon.
“The repercussions of corruption over the years have been most felt among the middle class and the downtrodden masses. It has brought
acute poverty, epileptic power supply, poor public health facilities, pension woes and a comatose education sector.
“But things started looking up within the short span that the Buhari administration locked horns with the corruption canker-worm. Electricity
megawatt rose from 3,000 to 7,000. Nigeria’s road network witnessed an unprecedented turnaround. The railways roared back.
Pensioners were able to smile and several social welfare schemes which were put in place facilitated the redistribution of wealth in such a
manner that poor Nigerians received cash directly from the Federal Government.
“All these go to prove that the anti-corruption efforts of the Buhari administration have yielded fruits. Our national image has also
improved. Whereas Transparency International (TI) ranked Nigeria as the First Most Corrupt nation in the whole world in 2001, Second Most
Corrupt in 2003 and Third Most Corrupt in 2004, our rating has now improved tremendously. According to the 2018 Corruption Perception
Index by TI, Nigeria now occupies number 144 out of 175 countries,” he said.
Akintola added:“We stand a good chance of boosting the war against corruption on Saturday by voting for governorship candidates who
identify with President Muhammadu Buhari. On the contrary, we will be supporting corruption if we cast our votes for candidates who oppose
our president.
“Also, the dividends of democracy which we have seen in form of better roads, railways, improved power supply, etc, stand a
good chance of continuing at a higher scale.
“It is not about any political party. It is for the sake of Nigeria. Our clarion call is to awaken true patriots. We must allow the good
works of Buhari to continue without distractions. We must vote in such a way that conflicting interests are removed in
developmental issues. For instance, metropolitan cities like Lagos, Kaduna and Kano stand to gain more by aligning with the center.”
Akintola said every nation that seeks breakthrough must have a model like Buhari.
“Every nation that seeks genuine breakthrough must model its life pattern after a hero. South Africans chose Nelson Mandela. America
picked George Washington. Lenin built Russia. China had Chairman Mao. Malaysia had Mahathir Muhammad. Today Buhari has become the father of modern Nigeria but he has only worked halfway. He needs our votes for his governorship candidates to consolidate his position.
“On a last note, we remind Nigerians that although Buhari won the battle with his victory at the presidential election held on
Feb. 23, the war rages on. Corruption will continue to fight back.
“The number of state governors who line up behind Mr President will go a long way to determine how effective the war against
corruption will be. This is why we must use our votes on Saturday to support the fight against corruption. The way we vote will tell the
world whether or not we cherish decency, discipline, integrity, infrastructural development, stable power supply and the elimination
of poverty,” he said.(NAN)
KM/ABI
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Edited by Ali Baba-Inuwa