President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria said Thursday that he has signed an executive order seeking to restrain owners of assets under probe from carrying out further transactions on such properties.

He added that exigencies of the moment demanded that a ‘national emergency’ on the ‘crisis’ of corruption in Nigeria be declared.

Speaking while signing the order on Thursday in the nation’s federal capital, Abuja, the president said:

“Like I have said many times, if Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will sooner-or later kill Nigeria.

“It has thus become necessary to re-kit and re-tool our arsenal to be able to effectively tackle corruption’s perilous counter-attack against the Nigerian state. Accordingly, the federal government of Nigeria has declared a national emergency to deal with that crisis.

“In this regard, the federal government of Nigeria in line with its anti-corruption strategy seeks to ensure that justice is not defeated or compromised by persons involved in a case or complaint of corruption.”
The president said the viability and continuous well-being of the nation faces enormous threat from corruption.

“Whilst there are many reasons why Nigeria has been struggling; regrettably, the most unfortunate cause of great disparity between Nigeria’s wealth and its poverty is endemic corruption.”

Read Also: ‘Africa, learn to fend for yourselves’

He added, “It is in consequence of this that I have decided to issue the Executive Order No. 6 of 2018 to inter alia restrict dealings in suspicious assets subject to investigation or inquiry bordering on corruption in order to preserve such assets from dissipation, and to deprive alleged criminals of the proceeds of their illicit activities which can otherwise be employed to allure, pervert and/or intimidate the investigative and judicial processes.

“Or for acts of terrorism, financing of terrorism, kidnapping, sponsorship of ethnic or religious violence, economic sabotage and cases of economic and financial crimes, including acts contributing to the economic adversity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and against the overall interest of justice and the welfare of the Nigerian state.”

“There is also a very strong link between corruption, peace and security. Unfortunately, corruption is everywhere; at all levels of government, and every stratum of our society. Without doubt, corruption constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the well-being, national security, and economy of Nigeria,” he said.

Some close watchers of Nigeria’s political space, however, feel that the fresh push to nail alleged looters is a deliberate distraction to take attention away from the internal squabbles threatening to consume the ruling party, leading to emergence of a breakaway group, R-APC.

It has also been argued that the executive order is another indirect attempt to muscle the nation’s judicial processes which Buhari finds a bit too cumbersome and frustrating.