Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna state, says the trend of members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), “not being accused of corruption”, must be checked.
El-Rufai stated this in his speech at the 23rd Daily Trust Dialogue, which held in Abuja, on Thursday.
El-Rufai said that justice, fairness and good governance must be entrenched to ensure effective governance in Nigeria.
He said, “We have governance without accountability. Nigeria has built reform and accountability faster than in the substance. We conduct elections and create agencies and announce assets recoveries, but accountability by just governing remains selective.
“Corruption has become dangerous for some that are in opposition and negotiable for others that are sitting on the fence and want to move to the APC; and invisible for those aligned with the power. APC members are never accused of corruption.
“This is not abstract; it appears in unpaid salaries, abandoned projects, decayed infrastructure and widespread cynicism, when laws are enforced unevenly, deterrence collapses. And when deterrence collapses, trust evaporates; and this is what is happening in Nigeria.”
El-Rufai argued that Nigeria must strengthen its institutions through judicial reform to ensure credible elections and truly independent electoral commission.
He added, “Finally, we must restore ethical and competent government for our politics to have meaning. Reform is not only about what must change, but it is also about what must stop.”