Ladies and gentlemen, having watched with keen interest the various presidential aspirants’ and their pronunciations on how to tackle the problem of corruption in our beloved country Nigeria, I have had no other option than to throw my hat into the ring and run for the office of the president of the federal republic of Nigeria at the forthcoming elections.
At political rallies and during political debates, the recurrent question has always been, ‘if elected into office as the president, how will you tackle the problem of corruption in Nigeria?’ I have watched with utter chagrin and dismay the share amount of lip service that aspirant upon aspirant to the office of president have paid to this national malaise that have brought international ridicule to our image within the comity of nations, and deprived our dear citizens meaningful standard of living and development commensurate with the abundant human, material and natural resources at our disposal.
To this end, it is my candid opinion that to successfully tackle the scourge of our society called corruption, a ZERO TOLERANCE ATTITUDE needs to be adopted, and promoted across all levels of government, at federal and state level. As a first step to demonstrating this approach, nobody should and will be shielded from the full extent of the law, no matter what position or status such an individual occupies, be it in government or within our society. As such, I will make it mandatory for any potential public officer to be thorough checked through a robust system of national and international security procedures before assuming office. Anyone with the slightest of blemish will not be allowed to take up any political appointment in my administration whatsoever.
Also, any public office or political appointee who has the misfortune of having allegations of corruption or mismanagement levelled against him will be mandated by clearly laid down processes and procedures to vacate such position immediately, and absolve him or herself of such allegations. In the case that such persons successfully clear themselves of any wrong – doing, they will have the opportunity to be fully reintegrated back into their positions soon after. Nobody, no matter their position in our society or the level of political clout they wield should be protected from the long arms of the law if they are suspected of committing acts inimical to the well-being our good country, Nigeria and its people. Thus, as it is the norm to be deemed innocent before the eye of the law until proven guilty any public officer who finds himself or herself in the unenviable position of corruption charges will be given all the necessary support to absolve themselves of such claims, but this will not preclude them from defending themselves before relevant legal systems.
Historically, it has become the norm for elected politicians to cite constitutional immunity as reasons for not submitting themselves to public investigations on allegations of corruption. To this extent, any political office holder no matter what position he or she occupies will be subjected to public investigation and possibly trial before a competent court of law. Where immunity constitutionally precludes a political office holder from trial, I will ensure that statutory provisions make it mandatory for relevant investigative and security agencies to investigate and try such matters irrespectively. Public office holders who are protected by such immunity clauses in the Nigerian constitution will have the option of either waiving their immunity under the law, and subject themselves to investigation and trial where necessary, or will exercise their rights to immunity under the law, but must compulsorily be subjected to investigation and trial immediately after the expiry of their current term of office. Such political office holder will as a matter of law to be promoted through the national assembly, be automatically disqualified from seeking any elective office until the allegations of corruption have been conclusively determined, and his or her innocence established beyond any reasonable doubt.
Personally, if at any time during my tenure as president of Nigeria allegations of corruption are levelled against me, I shall have no problems waiving aside my entitlement to immunity under the constitution of Nigeria. I shall resign my position as president of Nigeria where undisputable evidence abound to support such accusations of corrupt practices while in office, and I will expect all political appointees to follow the same principles if the occasion arises.
To really demonstrate that my administration is serious about the plans I have enumerated above, I will actively seek for the total and complete independence of the Economic and financial Crimes commission to be entrenched in the constitution, with tits funds appropriated in the federal budget accordingly. It will be the responsibility of the President as it obtains under the present constitution to nominate the chairman of the commission subject to the approval of the national assembly, but beyond that neither the president not the national assembly will have any rights or powers to interfere in the affairs commission, except in cases of gross misconduct or other such cases of a disciplinary nature.
When I become president of Nigeria, I shall cause to be made a law establishing a ‘Corrupt Offenders’ Register (CORE). Any corrupt offender who has been successfully prosecuted, and found guilty of perpetrating corruption in the course of his or duties, either in public or private enterprise, shall be mandated by the EFCC to be put on the CORE for a period not less than 10 years. Any individual entered unto this register will be automatically being disqualified from holding public or corporate responsibilities of any kind during the duration. If during that period, a convicted individual is found to be actively or covertly partaking in such functions, such persons will be liable to a minimum of 5 year jail term on conviction without an option of fine
It common practice these days for corrupt offenders to serve sentences concurrently, to such an extent that such people who may have been charged and convicted on multiple counts e.g. 10 counts of corruption carrying 2 year jail sentence on conviction, will only serve less than two years on conviction, taking into account time spent in detention prior to conviction. In my opinion, this is projecting a wrong signal to culprits. As such, I will actively sort for a change in law that allows concurrent sentencing. Any convicted corrupt offender with three or more counts of corruption should be made to face a minimum of five years or half the total years sentenced. This will further project my administration ‘zero tolerance to corruption in public office.
It will be almost counterproductive waging a successful war against corruption in our society, without paying particular attention to the causes of corruption. The approach towards fight against causes of corruption will be done in a variety of ways. The first on will be to institute a massive awareness campaign on a frequent basis, to educate the Nigerian public on the folly of engaging in corruption, the need to admonish and educate our young c children both at home and in school on the negative impact corruption has on our daily lives, and to include in our national educational curriculum a subject at both primary and secondary schools, that teaches our children about not only issues of corruption, but other issues that revolve around every good citizen’s civic responsibility to his immediate society.
In furtherance to waging war against the causes of crime and corruption, I will cause to be established through appropriate legal instruments, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to serve as a watchdog on crimes and corruption. Currently, all our security and investigative agencies are left to their own devises unfettered. Hence when complaints are made, it is apparent that the complainant is unsatisfactory with the way and manner they are dealt with. Thus it will be the mandate of the Crimes and Corruption Watchdog to amongst other things receive relevant reports of unsatisfactory or other complaints regarding corrupt practices and the relevant agencies involved. The Crime and corruption watchdog will be able to liaise with the relevant security or investigative agencies to facilitate appropriate resolution of conflict or misunderstanding between the complainant and such agencies, and provide feedback where applicable. If appropriate, the Crime and corruption watchdog can facilitate the investigation of investigative and security agencies to determine whether they had followed due process in the investigation of reported cases of corruption, and in so doing arrived at acceptable and appropriate conclusions in the cause of doing so.
The Crime and corruption watchdog will also have powers under the law to indict and prosecute or cause to be prosecuted law enforcement agencies and their agents where appropriate, and cause appropriate punishment under the constitution to be applied.
AT this present time, I will like to restrict my plans and programmes with regards to crime and corruption to those highlighted in this pledge, but I will like to say that this is by no means an exhaustive list. Furthermore, I am open to positive suggestions and contributions aimed at augmenting and enhancing the processes geared towards a successful fight against corruption in public offices and beyond. Thank you and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
My Name is OMAKS KOGBAROYE, and I’m running for office of the president of Nigeria
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