Contrary to the view held by most of his party members, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s national caretaker committee, Ahmed Makarfi has defended the ongoing anti-corruption battle.
Makarfi noted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-graft crusade is not motivated by politics of any sort, as it is widely believed.
Makarfi, a former two-term governor of Kaduna State, gave the advice in an interview with journalists on Tuesday in Kaduna.
He however cautioned against targeting the wrong people so as not to derail the anti-corruption war.
According to him, the government and security agencies have the right to invite people to explain issues that might arise in the course of investigation “whether you are in PDP or not, whether you are a politician or not.”
“If I’m to be fair, I will not say it is politics,” Makarfi said. “If you are invited purely on the issue of campaign funds, anybody can be invited to explain, it depends on the essence of the report.”
Makarfi said in doing so, the government should avoid targeting “middlemen” and concentrate on “those who know the source of the money being investigated”.
The former governor said the government should investigate and prosecute those who approved and released public funds illegally.
Makarfi also cautioned against investigating funds donated to political parties for campaigns, insisting that if the government wanted to do so, it must investigate all donations.
“In all these issues, you have to be careful to be able to find out for what purpose the funds were meant for, because sometimes, they may not be purely for political reasons.
“You have to get the facts right, because under Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) for instance, we had contracts and money for politics.
“If you are going to look deeply, definitely religious leaders, traditional rulers and other national figures must have gotten some share too,” he argued.
Makarfi however called for institutional reforms to shield security votes from abuse by political office holders.
He said it was important “to set up a machinery for an institutional reform on how security votes are managed”.
“This affects not only the federal government, because if you come down to the states, you are going to find similar happenings,” he said.
“Even local government chairmen have security votes and you are going to find that their expenditure follows similar pattern,” he added.
Meanwhile, the PDP, on Tuesday said the tone of conversation amongst Nigerians on social media had taken a dangerous dimension.
As a result, the party took responsibility for the role it played in fostering the “toxic” atmosphere, and promised to improve on the tone of its discussion going forward.
“We have noticed, with a growing sense of dismay, the level of toxicity that pervades the political space with respect to discussions on national issues,” the PDP said. “We accept responsibility and apologise for whatever role we have played in reaching this level of toxicity.”
“Henceforth, we commit to focusing only on the issues and proffering cogent & competent solutions to the issues facing the nation.”
The surprisingly conciliatory tone came in a series of tweets on its Twitter handle, @PdpNigeria between 9-10:00 a.m. Tuesday.
“This toxicity, some of which finds expression in discussions across social media platforms, has reached the level where bridges are being burnt, personal relationships are being strained and an unnecessary tension fills what should ordinarily be patriotic and enlightening conversations on how to move the nation forward,” the party said.
The Nigerian social media space had become a platform for dangerous political rhetoric, with a focus on re-tweets and likes often overshadowing constructive engagement.
Last month, the PDP said on Twitter that it had uncovered a plot to assassinate Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, a major opposition figure in the country.
Governor Fayose may have to take extra security measures to prevent Aisha Buhari or the 1st family from assassinating him,” the June 21 tweet read.
In late March, the handle sparred with the Central Bank, suggesting that the bank was illegally handing out dollars to President Buhari’s inner circles amidst widespread scarcity of forex across the country.
“First Lady Aisha Buhari got $22m forex from CBN on the instructions of Emefiele and the company sold at N362 same day. #CorruptionAndBuhari.”
The PDP also tweeted that “In 12 days, President Buhari has spent £6m (Six Million Pounds) in London. Change is really here.”
The party said Nigerians would no longer see attacks from its handles in the future and urged its supporters to eschew abusive use of social media.
“We urge our supporters and the believers in the ability of our party to provide these solutions to henceforth show more restraint and maturity as we point out the many obvious flaws of this administration and proffer solutions & alternatives to their many failures,” the party said.
It ended by quoting Abraham Lincoln, a former president of the United States.
“We’re not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”
