18th July, 2018
Ayodele Efunla
Chairman, Campaign Against Corruption and Bad Governance (CACOBAG), Mr Toyin Raheem, has called on Nigerians to join the fight against corruption and eradicate the menace which has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation.
“We as a people must salvage the country from this dangerous trend,” Raheem said.
The CACOBAG chairman also condemned the activities of Boko Haram, describing members of the group as criminals and terrorists.
”The advent of Boko Haram in Nigeria is obviously a new dimension to acts of criminality and CACOBAG has been vindicated that Boko Haram members are criminals ready to perpetrate evil and cause havoc in our nation.
”Boko Haram members are criminals and terrorists in all ramifications. Their advent is for propagation of all sorts of crimes, ranging from kidnapping to murder, illegal arms dealings, corruption of international dimension etc,” he stated.
On the kidnapped Chibok/Dapchi schoolgirls who were abducted from their schools and Leah Sharibu who is still being held, the CACOBAG chairman said: “They have turned our girls to merchandise by some evil minded people that use negotiation for the release of the kidnap girls to corruptly enrich themselves.”
Addressing the issue of arrests made by foreign countries as a result of alleged proceeds of ransom allegedly paid by the Nigerian government for the Chibok girls’ release, the CACOBAG chairman stressed that it is saddening that foreign nationals and countries have more interest in our country affairs and development than ourselves.
He said that some arrests have been made on behalf of Nigeria, of criminals that are nationals of other countries involved in the alleged collection of proceeds of ransom claimed to have been paid by our government in exchange for our girls.
Raheem emphasised that as Nigerians, we are more concerned with the safe return of the remaining girls in captivity than the ransoms paid. “The government should have trust that Nigerians are not ready to blame them even if ransom was paid.”
He charged the EFCC under the leadership of Ibrahim Magu to combat corruption and also unravel the mystery behind one Auwalu Kalamu, a supposed security chief in Nigeria who is said to have dual citizenship of Nigeria and Niger Republic.
“The said Auwalu Kalamu has two accounts opened in his name with the alleged proceeds of the ransom paid for the release of our girls stashed in the two accounts. We call on EFCC to unravel the mystery behind the money that is already traced to two bank accounts at Lamdap private bank in Liechtenstein, Germany and Gambit bank, domiciled at Isreali private bank . This fake Auwalu Kalamu is toying with the lives of our children for his devilish and insatiable wants for criminal accumulation of wealth,” Raheem said.
CACOBAG is an anti-graft body out to campaign against corruption and bad governance.