A FORMER presidential candidate Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has advised ambitious public officials to resign before seeking any elective position in 2023.
Olawepo-Hashim, presidential candidate of Peoples Trust (PT) in the 2019 election, spoke while delivering a lecture at the Arewa House in Kaduna.
In a paper titled ‘Uthman Dan Fodio: A legacy of anti-corruption’, Olawepo-Hashim explained that the first step towards stopping corruption in Nigeria is to ensure that corrupt individuals do not hijack the build-up to 2023 elections.
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He added that politicians with prima-facie cases of corruption established against them must be shamed and prevented from being nominated in the various party elections and, if they cannot be stopped in the primaries, voted against at the general election.
“Every Nigerian must join in the call that appointed public officers aligned with private interests who have political ambitious must now resign their appointments to prevent the complete privatisation of the state by the nouveau riche.”
He emphasised the need to decentralise government processes to reduce corruption induced by over-centralisation of power.
Olawepo-Hashim, in the same vein, advocated a “constitutional amendment to ensure that elected public officers at the federal and state publicly declare their assets upon election to office”.
“Mere declaration at the Code of Conduct Bureau asset declaration forms will no longer suffice,” he added.
He canvassed a new policy of encouraging electronic registration of all assets such as land and house titles at state levels while also campaigning for a new national ethical reform.
“Ethical reform campaign should be launched, aimed at promoting simple lifestyle rather than ostentatious living as well as ensuring that public officers maintain simplicity in the type and numbers of cars they use, houses they live in, and ceremonies they stage,” he said.
Reflecting on the theme of the lecture, Olawepo-Hashim said, “Nothing of recent underscores the depth of the corruption quagmire in our country as the sordid details of the alleged drug deals of the soon to be extradited top police cop DCP Abba Kyari.”
The occasion was attended by many dignitaries from both the public and private sectors.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance