Corruption: All past leaders are guilty, says Saraki

Senate President, Bukola Saraki

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said on Tuesday that all public office holders in Nigeria since 1999 were guilty of the mistakes of the past that led the country to its present political and economic mess.
Saraki stated this while responding to a question on the secrecy of the National Assembly budget and corruption allegations leveled against it by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a recent letter.
The Senate President insisted that it was wrong for anybody to hold an individual or group of people solely responsible for the mess of the past.
He said, “We have all been here since 1999 up to the recent past when things were not done right, we are all part of it. I was there, you were there, every
other political office holder in different capacities was there as well.
“My own view from the 8th National Assembly is that the time for collective participation for the good of all Nigerians is here with us in line with the change mantra of the present administration. We are all on the same page for things to be done differently.
“I think what we need now from all stakeholders, is more of cooperation, encouragement and participation  as oppose to trying to hold one person responsible for the mistakes of the past that we are all part of .It is clearly not the right thing needed now.”

Saraki stressed that blaming the woes afflicting the country now on some individuals or an institution remained a wrong approach.
According to him, what is required of all stakeholders is collective participation for the good of all Nigerians.
He, however, pledged that details of the N115bn National Assembly budget on a section-by-section basis would be made public this year as against the practice of one item of the past.
Saraki, on Tuesday condemned the recent Boko Haram attacks in Dalori, Borno State, where scores of people were reportedly killed and others injured.
Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja, described the Boko Haram attacks against women and children on the outskirts of Maiduguri as unacceptable.
He said the development was coming at a time the nation has recorded so much gain in the fight against corruption and when the Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, had commenced the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction.