Law should prevail in anti-corruption fight, lawmaker charges FG

A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Samuel Onuigbo has urged the executive arm of the federal government and security agencies responsible for the fight against corruption to always allow the rule of law to prevail in the fight against financial and economic crimes.

The federal lawmaker said the fight against corruption might not be meaningful unless, observance of the rule of law is strictly adhered.

At a media forum in Abuja where he assessed government’s fight against corruption, Onuigbo commended the judiciary for its courage to stand up and resist imposition of injustice and shortcut in the course of trial of some corruption cases and threw his weight behind the combat against the crime, insisting however that separation of powers in the three arms of government must be respected at all times by those involved.

In his words, “Government has started well in the anti-corruption crusade in this country but the concern is the approach to the fight. A lot of people are apprehensive over the approach to the fight.”

“In democracy, there are three arms of government and there is separation of powers to prevent abuse of powers and to also serve as check and balances between the legislature, executive and  judiciary in that order.”

“No society is perfect; every society has one challenge of corruption in one way or the other. In a democratic government, you ensure that the rules are strictly adhered to so as create confidence and ensure that justices alone is manifestly done.”

“In our fight against corruption, we must ensure that all arms of government are allowed to function unhindered. Without that, we will be in a big trouble.”

“We expect government to fight corruption but government must allow the rule of law to prevail. Court decisions must be obeyed by all arms of government especially the executive arm of government.”

“Foreign investors will not be willing to come and invest in a country where there is no rule of law and where there is no justice.”

“My appeal to the government and other agencies involved in the fight against corruption is that the rule of law must be allowed to prevail. No arm of government should be arm twisted to do injustice against any Nigeria citizen,” he said.