Pardoned thieves must return loot — Onaiyekan

Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, has said pardon for thieves of state funds can be acceptable on the condition that all monies stolen be returned to the national treasury.

Onaiyekan spoke for himself and the Sultan of Sokoto Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar as joint recipients of the Leadership newspaper 2012 persons of the year award, at a ceremony in Abuja yesterday. “We should pardon our thieves; I believe in pardon, but they must return the loot,” he said. “Property is always crying for its owner, stolen resources must be recovered, and brought down to the disposal of the Nigerian people, from whom it has been stolen. People steal money and they say is government money, we should not say so. It’s not government money it’s our money.” He said “This stealing must stop, no more cover up, no more pretence, no more euphemisms, we hear all kind of special words used, misappropriation, misapplication even the word embezzlement doesn’t mean much really, say it, stealing!, Ole! That’s clear, because that is really what it is.”

“There are no obstacles to our dreams like the twin monsters of which we must resolutely and sincerely confront, which are corruption and presently insecurity.

And when I speak of corruption in this sense I’m not talking of the petty thievery of small scale officers, seeking little bribes simple to survive, we are talking of serious official, legal stealing in high places,” he added. On insecurity in the country, Onaiyekan said, “The security approach, guns, equipment, is necessary but as we  can see is not enough, political forces must link hands, and we beg them please link hands, enough of mutual accusation let all political forces come together to face this menace.” He also spoke on the need for inter-religious understanding.

“When I hear people saying let us join together, let forget our differences, I begin to fear. I cannot forget the fact that I am a Christian and that my brother the Sultan of Sokoto is a Muslim. We work together because we have some spiritual inspirations that move us and move us in the same direction,” he said.

Source: http://dailytrust.com.ng/index.php/news-news/52329-pardoned-thieves-must-return-loot-onaiyekan