– The Buhari administration has brought significant change with positive and far reaching effect in reforms, according to Yemi Osinbajo
– Osinbajo said governors and legislators were under severe interference and threats by the executives in the past
– According to the vice president, before the current administration, the country experienced a lot of impunity
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has stopped the ‘grand corruption’ that characterised past administrations.
Speaking in Sokoto on Saturday, November 3, at the 2018 annual lecture organised by the Barewa Old Boys Association ahead of its centenary celebrations slated for 2021, Osinbajo said the executive has never interfered in the affairs of the legislature, The Nation reports.
“There has never been attempt by this government in any guise to impede on the National Assembly. Governor Tambuwal who was then Speaker will not forget how he scaled the fence by acrobatic means to get into the assembly complex.
“I was Attorney General of Lagos State when the executive withheld our funds. All these were absolute impunity, threat and undue interference which are now in the past with the coming of this government,” he stated.
The vice president said governors and legislators were under severe interference and threats by the executives in the past. He said there has been significant change with positive and far reaching effect in reforms through democratic means.
“We have been able to actualise and domesticate financial autonomy of the judiciary as an important integral arm of government,” Osinbajo said.
According to the vice president, the country experienced a lot of impunity, before the All Progressives Congress (APC) took over power.
“We knew when the executive approved direct stealing and collection of huge sums from the public treasury to the tune of $297 million in a single swing,” he added.
Osinbajo listed the N-Power, Anchor borrower, conditional cash ýtransfer, school feeding and other beneficial entrepreneurial and skills acquisition empowerment ventures as areas through which the federal government intervention schemes have grossly impacted the citizenry.
In his remarks, the Sokoto state governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, noted that the issue of good governance was a critical and necessary aspect to the country’s democracy.
Meanwhile, TRACK NEWS reported earlier that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) urged President Muhammadu Buhari to order a second probe of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano.
The governor is already being probed by Kano House of Assembly over the widely circulating video clips allegedly showing Ganduje receiving bribe.
SERAP asked the president to direct the attorney general of the federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN, and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to also investigate the allegations.
