Corruption has no tribal, religious, boundaries, says Osinbajo

• Congratulates Tinubu on his Sun Man of The Year Award
WITH a bird’s eye view from his vintage position as the number two citizen, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Lagos at the weekend painted a picture of why corruption thrives in the country. According to him, the corrupt elements in Nigeria are of the same tribe.

His words: “When you look at any list of alleged perpetrators of a heinous case of corruption, all tribes, ethnicities and religions are well represented. In other words, high level corruption knows no religion or ethnicity.

“They are in governments, the legislature, the judiciary and the press. They are united, they protect each other, they fight for each other and they are prepared to go down together.

“They are one tribe, indivisible regardless of diversity. It is this tribe that confuses the arguments for change in society.”
But he also proffered what he thought will be a solution to the tribe of the corrupt.

“We need a new tribe of men and women of all faiths, tribes and ethnicities who are committed to a country run on high values of integrity, hard-work, justice and love for the country.”

Continuing Osinbajo said they will be “a tribe of men and women who are prepared to make the sacrifices and self-constraints that are crucial to building a strong society; who are prepared to stick together, fight corruption side by side, and insist on justice even when our friends are at the receiving end.”

The Vice President who spoke Saturday evening in Lagos on the theme: “Change Agents in Nation-Building” at the annual dinner of the Apostles In The Market Place, AiMP, of which he is a member and where he was the keynote speaker also recalled how difficult the task has been for President Muhammadu Buhari and himself to find the right persons for tasks at hand.

“I have had several long discussions with President Muhammadu Buhari on the key issue of finding the right persons for any task- a tough task indeed in a corrupted system.

Dwelling on the need and calling for the new tribe consisting of professionals, businessmen, politicians, religious leaders and all others who believe that a new Nigeria is possible, the Vice President disclosed how the President and himself have been working together to get the right people for tasks.

He stated that the corrupted system is “one where the norm is corrupt behaviour across all arms of formal systems of governance. In such a system the private sector is a strong collaborator. The fight against corruption is then a fight against the system.”

Osinbajo added that such a corrupt system “can hardly deliver public goods. How many new roads has the Federal Government of Nigeria managed to build in 10 years? Where have the billions of dollars in the days of $100 oil gone?”

Besides, the Vice President added that “the shocking thefts of funds meant to procure arms to defend the nation demonstrates the moral ambivalence that pervades our system. That system needs to be dismantled if the nation is to progress.”

According to him, “Nigeria’s greatest battle is the one to bring integrity and accountability to public service and the private sector. This requires a new way of thinking, a new leadership corp, a new tribe. The challenge today for us all, friends and colleagues is to populate that new tribe.”

Entitled “A New Tribe”, Osinbajo’s speech drew the fervent response of respected administrator Dr. Christopher Kolade who noted that the change Nigeria needs is that which starts “in us as individuals.”

He said the new tribe Osinbajo called for must be made up of Nigerians who accept and believe in a “society where good things are the norm,” and that such acceptance and belief is what qualifies people to belong to the new tribe.

Kolade added that the new tribe of Nigerians are those who want to tell the truth and who want the truth.
Meanwhile, the vice president has congratulated the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his award as The Sun Man Of The Year 2015.

Speaking at the event at the weekend, the Vice President described Tinubu as a well focused man that achieves whatever he sets out to achieve stressing that, his determination and love for true democracy brought about the formation of APC and subsequent victory in the Presidential elections.