Abuja – Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Thursday that the battle against corruption by the present administration had no ethnic agenda.
He said this when traditional rulers of the Yoruba extraction in Northern Nigeria and Abuja paid him a courtesy visit at the state House.
According to him, there is no country in the world that had become great through corruption, adding that corruption always fought back when being battled.
He said Nigerians should discard such notions and embrace the virtue that a corrupt person should be made to account for his misdeeds.
“You hear people saying that the reason that man is being tried for corruption is because he is Yoruba, he is from the North, and he is from South South.
“We must not encourage those kinds of ideas. If a person steals, he ought to be punished and made to return what he has stolen because the money does not belong to him.
“The money is what is to be used for the training of our young people, who are in school or hospital and for the building of roads,’’ he said.
According to Osinbajo, nobody has the right to pocket public money, adding that if that is allowed, it will destroy the future which belongs to the children.
The Vice President said the Yoruba believe in the unity of the country and that anywhere they reside is home .
He said the president had committed the country to the pathway of integrity and that there was need for each person to stand up for the truth and justice.
He reminded people of the culture that anyone who stole in his land was ostracized and used as an example.
“There is no family in Yoruba land that allows thieves. If you are a thief, we will expose you. We should support the effort of the administration to fight corruption,’’ he said.
In his speech, the chairman of the Yoruba traditional rulers in the North and Abuja, Chief Mohammed Arigbabuwo, assured the vice president of their support to the administration.
The traditional ruler commended the fight against corruption and insurgency and urged the government to provide employment to jobless youth.
