Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State governor, at the weekend took a swipe at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying he is not in a good position to champion the anti-corruption drive.
Atiku had vowed to fight corruption like never before if given the chance to preside over Nigeria’s affairs, saying he was well equipped to fight corruption because of his vast experience both in the public and private sectors and his ability to build a team capable of accomplishing the task.
“I will shock everyone because I believe that I will fight corruption like never before,” he had said.
However, speaking with journalists during the peace meeting held with aggrieved aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Marina, Ambode said there was no way any responsible leader would decide to wage a frontal battle against corruption without it fighting back.
Describing the 16 years reign of the PDP as ’16 years of corruption’, Ambode said the opposition is desperate to unseat President Buhari in 2019 so as to return Nigeria to the old ways when corruption was endemic.
Ambode who said he is aligning with President Buhari for reelection as president of Nigeria said three and a half years is not enough to reverse the rot caused by the PDP in its 16 years rule.
He said “You see, everybody is very clear about what is going on. In any environment, when you put up a crusade that you want to fight corruption, it’s very clear that corruption will always fight back. The fundamental reform about the way we do things is the underbelly for this anti-corruption drive.
“The way we do things in this country, they are not the right ways that can give us prosperity and President Buhari decided, on his own, that he would champion this crusade irrespective of how corruption will fight back.
“But again, when you have had 16 years of corruption and we’ve just only had three and a half years of reversing it, the way they are fighting back is trying to take government from him so that we can go back to our old ways of putting this country in penury, that is the crux of this election.”
