The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday reiterated its position on capital punishment for corrupt public office holders, saying it will not back down until its request is granted.
The congress opposed life imprisonment for treasury looters, saying the country was not ripe for it.
NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, made this known in Ilorin, Kwara State while speaking with journalists during a condolence visit to former NLC Vice President, Comrade Issa Aremu, on the death of his mother, Hafsat.
According to Wabba: “We must canvass for capital punishment. It is only people who are stealing that will go against it.
“If we are campaigning for capital punishment and people are kicking against it, we must be consistent because people are reaping from where they have not sown.
“Except we begin to do the needful, it will be difficult to change our society. If you have followed up our argument, we have said clearly that part of why we are in this quagmire of challenges is that a lot of people have appropriated the resources that we need to drive development”.
The NLC president continued: “Schools are not developing; there are no drugs in hospitals. People have helped themselves and Nigerians are suffering.
“So we have the right to demand good governance and accountability. The major problem in Nigeria is corruption”.
He said Nigerian workers kicked against plea bargaining because “it will be an incentive to encourage treasury looters because the loot will be too much so that during the process of plea bargaining, they may just part with little”.
On the schism within the union, Wabba said there was no more rift as was evident during the recent National Day of Action Against Corruption.
He explained: “The disagreement has been settled by the grace of God. We have settled and we are pushing ahead with a very strong force that all of us are, workers, citizens of this country will be happy with and you have seen the action we took, the protest which was for good governance and against corruption”.
