President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerians to desist from protecting people who have stolen from the public treasury.
The president made the appeal on Thursday at four-day plenary session of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria held at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Gwarinpa, Abuja, where he was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“Our nation has a large number of extremely vulnerable and poor people. At the last count, it was over 100 million extremely poor people and that is why we cannot afford governments that are corrupt, because the resources that are meant to satisfy many are consumed by only a few.
“We must hold those who are corrupt accountable; corruption is a crime against humanity, we must not make excuses for those who are corrupt. We as a government hold ourselves accountable for anything that we do.
“We want to put a system where anyone who holds public office is held to account for whatever he does in public office so that resources of this great nation will satisfy all of us and will be used for the common good.
“Today, the President has done away with the way religion and ethnicity were being used to promote discord and to advance personal interests.
“The president has lived up to his word, when we look at Boko Haram insurgency, and the suicide bombing. When a bomb goes off in any of the markets, it does not ask whether you are a Christian or Muslim; all of us most condemn evil. Evil is evil.
“This year has been declared as a year of Mercy. We are all beneficiaries of the mercy of God, we would not have been in the positions we find ourselves if not for the mercy of God. All of the great heroes we know are mere men, sinners in the hand of a Merciful God,” he said.
In a statement signed by CBCN President, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, and Secretary, Most Rev. William Avenya, the Bishops tasked the Buhari administration to ensure that all culprits involved in the looting of the nation's treasury were brought to book.
“We call on government to use appropriate legal processes to thoroughly investigate the crimes of the past, transparently prosecute accused persons, and hold the guilty accountable in accordance with the laws of the land.
“Nonetheless, legal efforts are not enough. We enjoin all to seek positive and effective way forward through our common spiritual and religious values, namely, prayers and spiritual and moral rebirth as basis for repentance, reparation and reconciliation."
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