The National Peace Committee for the 2015 General Elections headed by
former Head of State General Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd) says it is
concerned about the process of the anti-corruption war of President
Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
The committee today met behind closed doors with the President Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Addressing
State House journalists later, a member of the committee, Bishop of
Sokoto Diocese Hassan Kukah said the position of the committee was that
Nigeria was no longer in a military regime. It is recalled
that the committee had mid-wifed the signing of the peace accord between
Buhari and his predecessor, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan ahead of the March
28 presidential election.
The committee met with President
Buhari Yesterday barely five days after Jonathan had paid a secret visit
to the president at his official residence in Aso Rock Villa.
President
Buhari's government had persistently insisted on recovering all the
billions of funds said to have been stolen under the administration of
Jonathan.
Kukah, while speaking to journalists on Abdulsalami's
behalf after yesterday's meeting with Buhari, said the committee
believed in the provision of the existing laws that everybody is
innocent until proven guilty.
The clergyman was responding to a question on the view of the committee about Buhari's administration's stance on corruption.
Kukah,
who affirmed that President Buhari's anti-corruption war was not
heating up the polity, stressed that the committee's current efforts was
to ensure that the right thing was done.
He said the committee
was at the Villa to update President Buhari about "the relevance of the
peace committee itself and how we can help to nurture what God has given
to us".
He also disclosed that in its recent conversation with
Jonathan and political parties' members, the committee realised that
nobody was in favour of corruption or against Buhari's commitment to
fighting it.
"It (Buhari's anti-graft war) is not heating up the
polity. In our conversation with former President Jonathan and members
of the parties, I don't think any Nigerian is in favour of corruption or
is against the president's commitment to ensuring that we turn over a
new leaf.
"I think what we are concerned about is process. It
is no longer a military regime, and under our existing laws, everybody
is innocent until proven guilty. "Again, our own commitment
is not to intimidate or fight anybody. The former president's commitment
and what he did still remains spectacular, and I think that President
Buhari himself appreciates that. So, our effort really is to make sure
that the right thing is done", he said.
Kukah dismissed the reports that Jonathan sought the committee's intervention on the ongoing probe of his government.
He
said: "Anybody is free to come to our committee, but former President
Jonathan never, by telephone or another means, talked to the committee.
We went to see him, but that was after we had already seen members of
the political parties, members of the civil society. We planned to see
the speaker because we couldn't see him yesterday (Monday).
"This
is a very planned series of intervention essentially just to hear out
everybody, and I think the good news is that Nigerians are committed to a
new nation, they are committed to ensuring that the gains and blessings
God has given us come to fruition".
Asked why the committee's
intervention had become so necessary, Kukah said: "This is not an
intervention, it is not a hearing out process. When we had the election,
it was like a wedding. Now, the reality of government is now the
marriage and people need to be encouraged. We need to reaffirm that this
is our country and the only thing we can collectively be opposed to is
injustice, iniquity, corruption and in that regard, we all had one
single conversation".
Kukah also stated that Buhari had
reaffirmed the need to retain the committee which, according to him
(Kukah), is not policing, but helps to build confidence whenever the
need arises.
"The president has also reaffirmed the need for
this committee to continue, and the international committee has very
much welcomed the contributions of the committee. Essentially we are not
policing, but when the need arises, help to build confidence and in the
process", he said.
Members of the committee who attended the
meeting alongside Abdulsalami, included the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji
Muhammadu Sa'Ad Abubakar III and the President of the Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
Others
were the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev.
Nicholas Okoh; the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John
Onaiyekan; former President of the Nigerian Bar Association Mrs.
Priscilla Kuye and Senator Ben Obi.
Our correspondent reports
that the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief
John Odigie-Oyegun, was also at the meeting.
