The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that corrupt politicians who are currently being probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have no moral authority to claim their rights were denied when their alleged actions eroded other people’s rights and led to countless deaths and suffering.
Mohammed said it was absurd that after stealing the country blind, some corrupt politicians were busy claiming their rights were infringed on.
The minister who spoke at a meeting with online publishers on Friday in Lagos, said that human rights claims would not stop President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war.
He said that the Federal Government was not selective in its anti-corruption war as being claimed because it was only logical that the Peoples Democratic Party which was in power for 16 years should be the focus of the corruption probes.
“The Federal Government is being criticised for infringing on human rights. This is not true. People who have stolen billions of naira have no moral authority to be claiming human rights when their theft left to the infringements of other people’s rights, deaths and suffering. We want Nigerians to weigh the matter.
“Fifty five Nigerians stole over N1.34tn in eight years. Should we now jetission the rights of 170 million Nigerians whose rights have been tampered with because of these few people who have stolen the country blind?
“When we start talking about human rights, we need to put the issue in the right perspectives. The granting of bail is at the discretion of the court of law and when there is a tendency that someone is likely to jump bail, such a right may be declined.”
Speaking on the report that two versions of the 2016 budget were presented to the National Assembly, Mohammed said the row was caused by ‘communication gap’ between the Presidency and the National Assembly.
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