Send Confirmed Corrupt persons to jail; forfeit their property to government, Sultan urges Buhari.
Even as eminent Nigerians continue to call on the Buhari administration to tread cautiously in the fight against corruption and ensure due process, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has urged President Buhari to jail those found guilty of embezzlement while their property should be confiscated.
Speaking against the background of Mr. President’s anti-corruption crusade at the National Security Summit 2015 organized by the Nigeria Police and Sun Newspapers in Abuja, the Sultan said, “We are 100 percent in support of your fight against corruption in this country”.
“And it is our belief that all those found guilty, should not only have their entire assets seized or and forfeited to government but also they should face jail sentences. In order to establish a decent state, corruption must be fought to a standstill”.
Basing his position on the polluted source of a spring, which affects the entire water coming from there, he said, we have a pure spring in our President Muhammadu Buhari today.
Citing the culture of leadership in the days of the Caliphate, the Sultan said of his ancestors, “On his employees, the ruler must urge his caliphate leaders to estimate their wealth before appointing them, and should watch their conduct at all times. He shall confiscate whatever is in excess of their legitimate income, and if in doubt confiscate half of it. This controlled corruption in the land”.
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On Community partnership to crime prevention, he said, “Traditional leaders have continued to enjoy a pride of place in the national security architecture. What has contributed to the success of traditional institutions in managing security includes the majority of the community who share in the subsisting values that subordinates individual and private interest to the general interest of the society”.
“Regardless of how many mosques or churches you have built or the charitable works you have carried out, the community will still wish to know the source of your wealth; the respectability you desire will only be conferred when the legitimacy of this source is verified and certified.
To ensure that our security agencies become truly a 21st century outfit with the ability to discharge their mandate effectively, we should be able to cater for their operational needs and the welfare of their members, so that when we say they serve and protect they should be able to do that.
We should endeavor to build study bridges and bridge the gaps between our security agencies and the communities. The record of the recent past is before us. Whatever we do should be meaningful and sustainable.
The Nigerian police and other security agencies must join the crusade against corruption, regardless of how well trained and equipped you cannot attain you full potentials if corruption and corrupt elements grace the corridors. Those who corrupt our national institutions from the outside, must face the same consequences as those who do it from the within.
“I also wish to call upon you, to institute a national Integrity plan for this country as soon as feasible, which we believe will refocus our moral, ethical and spiritual energies and the indefatigable spirit of our people into building peaceful prosperous, and democratic country which shall take its pride of place in the comity of nations”.
END.