Rights activist and President of the One Love Foundation, Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor, has recommended that death penalty should be introduced into our laws if we are really keen on eradicating corruption.
He made the recommendation while reacting to the N585 million graft scandal involving the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu.
While speaking in an exclusive chat with Popular News, Eholor said: “What she did is not strange in Nigeria society. First of all, let me appreciate President Bola Tinubu. When she was appointed into office I asked Nigerians what indices does she have to give money to the poor people and who are the poor people? We have to classify that.
“Some people thought that I was just raising dust. I am glad that she has been exposed. My disappointment is that a 37 year old beautiful woman, a doctor, what connects her with fraud? This is very sad for Nigeria. It is not encouraging.
“However, before her somebody was in that office under Buhari the same thing also happened. I am glad that the EFCC(Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) has invited her. If we must continue with this we must change the narrative. We must employ IT students. We have unemployed people who are very versatile when it comes to IT. There must be data base. There must be indices.
“It’s more disappointing that even the then Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo when we were talking about giving women money to farm he started sharing N10,000 as a sort of palliative or a loan to the very poor as they would say. These were all meant to exploit the Nigerian citizen. To steal from us as usual.
“But I am glad that Tinubu is taking the right step. But we cannot just use Betta Edu as a scapegoat. There were so many factors that were connected to this. Don’t also forget that there were memos that were raised for mega millions of naira for Kogi State visitation. There is no airport in Kogi State. They paid for ticket. They paid for hotels. They paid for airport car rentals.
“These are unimaginable as civilized as we are. This investigation shouldn’t end with Betta but it should also continue in the parastatals. I think President Bola Tinubu is doing well in this aspect because he has a name to protect. He is here as a President of necessity.
“I didn’t vote for him. But now that he has become a stone that the builders rejected let him become a cornerstone for Nigeria and change the narrative.
“Moreso, if we want to eradicate corruption we must introduce death penalty. That’s what is obtainable in China and Japan. We cannot just be saying it on lip service. We must do something about it.”
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