The zonal coordinators of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Sunday reiterated unflinching support for the war against corruption of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Habib Enesi, NANS’ spokesman who spoke at a world press conference held in Abuja, exonerated the group from the lingering crisis rocking the leadership of the House following allegation leveled against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers by the ousted chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin.
“On whether President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption is in the right direction, if you are with us in our last press briefing, we came out openly to tell the whole nation, that the entire Nigerian youths are in support of Mr President’s fight against corruption and with the direction he’s taking, if you are occupying an office and whosoever is found wanting, what stops the government to probe you. So he has the right and we are in support.
“In our own understanding, the fight against corruption is going on in the right direction and we are very sure it will give us a better result if all of us support Mr. President to fight it,” Enesi said.
While responding to questions on the Association’s view on the lingering crisis trailing the 2016 budget, Enesi said: “we are not taking a stand, so we are here to laud and applaud some of his (Dogara) achievements.
“We believe as a body that he has done somethings to impact positively on us and the entire nation and that he is fair to us, he’s carrying everyone along. That is why we are here, we are not standing for anything.”
The NANS chieftain who noted that the lawmakers and relevant anti-graft agencies are in the best position to unravel the riddles behind the budget padding crisis, expressed optimism that the House under the leadership of Speaker Dogara has “given Mr. President a clue on how to tackle corruption.”
“We are not EFCC neither are we lawmakers. I think the lawmakers should be able to give us the actions, they are the ones to prosecute, we are just spectators, so we don’t know who is rightly corrupt or not and we cannot decide the actions to be taken since they have not come to tell us whether from any Court of law that this person is corrupt from their findings.
“I think, they are the right person to make a final verdict on who is corrupt,” Enesi told the Legislative Correspondents.
Enesi who acknowledged that the Association does not have full grasp of happenings in the National Assembly, however noted that the Association has been following some of the activities of the House of Representatives “as vividly evident that Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara and his team have brought stability, propriety and honor to the Green Chambers of the National Assembly.
“Aside his undivided attention to the arduous task of proper legislation, Mr. Speaker has not lost grasp of the fact that our democratic voyage as a nation can only be sustained if the successor generation of leaders are properly groomed in the art of governance particularly in the aspect of inclusive legislation – which Rt. Hon. Dogara epitomises.”
According to him, NANS with over 40 million population, remains a key stakeholder in the Nigerian project, applauded Dogara’s lead role for in the promotion of two major bills that will allow youths participate in government both in elective and appointive offices.
Also speaking, Pedro Obi, who reiterated NANS solidarity for ongoing anti-corruption crusade of President Buhari, however noted that it is inappropriate to “crucify” someone over an allegation yet to be proven, rather stressed the need to prove the parties involved to prove their innocence.
“We should be looking at this thing from two ways. We should try and know where this allegation is coming from. So that it is not enough to say somebody has done something wrong so that we will now have to crucify the person. We should try and knwo when something is right.
“For us the National Association of Nigerian Students, we are supporting Mr. President against corruption and as such we are not supporting Mr. President to fight against somebody that in our own wisdom has not done anything wrong. As a matter of fact, the National Assembly has a way they carry out their activities. To us the House is doing what is right,” Obi said, just as he pledged the Association’s support for the Dogara’s leadership.
