“President Jonathan will not condone any act of proven corruption” – Abati

In a series of messages posted on his Twitter page, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati stated that President Goodluck Jonathan, will not tolerate any case of corruption that has been proven.

Abati was reacting to comments made by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, in which he accused the president of encouraging corruption in the country.

Tambuwal said: “The Executive, by constituting committees to investigate what ordinarily would have been investigated by the EFCC, the ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission) and the Code of Conduct Bureau, is engaged in a duplication of effort.

“We ( the National Assembly) do our own; we have been mandated by the 1999 Constitution to do it. They ( the anti-corruption agencies) have been established by law to do what they do.

“The Executive has no business in establishing their own. They (the Executive) should just refer corruption issues, if they mean business, to the EFCC.

“Let the Executive have the will of referring these matters, from the office of Mr. President, to the EFCC and see what will happen.

“By the action of setting up different committees for straightforward cases, the President’s body language doesn’t tend to support the fight against corruption.”

Abati in his response said, “Tambuwal should focus more on the efforts of the administration in fighting corruption, and comment on what he knows.

“The administration is not going to fight corruption on the basis of mere speculation, or the bad politics being played by some people.

“I think it is unfortunate that a man that is occupying such a high office is talking about body language.

“He is certainly in a position to know the truth and defend both his party and the government.

“He should make the effort to know that government is investigating various matters & working on them in accordance with due process http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/12/10/president-jonathan-will-condone-act-proven-corruption-abati/