The Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN has said that the ongoing discovery of staggering amounts of money allegedly misappropriated in the ongoing crackdown on corruption is a tragedy to the nation.
“We express shock at the shameful high-level corruption perpetuated by those entrusted with power the tragedy of a nation and hereby call of President Buhari to leave no stone unturned in his resolve to name, shame and prosecute all those involved.
“While conscious of the legality of being innocent until proven guilty by a law court, we call on the administration not to be intimidated by the antics of the highly placed suspects but undertake their prosecution in a universally accepted manner.
“We are particularly miffed by the heartlessness exhibited by all the accused individuals in the manner they allegedly withdraw and share millions of dollars while the average Nigerian is wallowing in abject poverty.
“Never in the history of the nation has those in government been discovered to have either withdrawn or cornered public funds with such impunity without an iota of empathy for the generality of the people, and disappointedly, even members of the media, the supposed watchdog, are reported to be actively involved in the loot sharing,” CANAN said in a statement.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is the continent’s top oil producer and one of the biggest producers in the world. Yet corruption has unfortunately undermined the nation, and according to analysts, keep 68 percent of its population living on less than $1.25 a day thereby perpetuating instability, especially the long-running conflict with Boko Haram.
CANAN said that the situation becomes graver with the proven strong link between corruption and insecurity.
According to Transparency International, when a country’s institutions are weak, its security forces are not trusted and its borders are not strong, as is the case in Nigeria, it gives terrorist organizations room to flourish.
“This indeed is a tragedy of a nation and the administration can only be supported to root out the endemic corruption that has eaten so deep into the fabric of high level government officials.
“As a Christian body, CANAN will continue to pray for the country that God should touch the heart of our leaders and make them God fearing as a first step to stem the tide of corruption in high places.”
CANAN is the voice of Nigerian Christians in the United States speaking for the voiceless.
The association was the vanguard for the designation of Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization FTO by the US government even against the strong opposition from the Nigerian government then.
As part of support to the cause of social justice, CANAN supports the current fight against corruption as it is compatible with the Christian world view.
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