Nigerian news

Transparency International Rating: Buhari Govt. Blames Obasanjo, Ezekwesili*

The Nigerian government on Friday said the low ranking of the country on the latest Transparency International Corruption Perception Index is out of tune with concrete and verifiable achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration achievements in the anti-graft war since it came into office in May 2015.

The Global anti-corruption watchdog ranked Nigeria low in its 2017 Corruption Perception Perception Index (CPI) released on Wednesday. Nigeria was ranked 148th position out of 180, the lowest score of the country on the index in recent years and a figure lower than the average in the Sub-Sharan region.

Indeed, the presidency not only disagreed with the ranking of Nigeria, it also insinuated that some patrons of TI in the country may be the brains behind the low rating to distract the President. The two Nigerians associated with TI are former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is a member of Advisory Council of the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog and former minister and co-convener of Bring Back Our Girls Advocacy group, Dr Oby Ezekwesili.

Ezekwesili was the co-founder of TI and served as one of the pioneer's directors of the organisation. Ezekwesili and Obasanjo have been outspoken in their criticisms of the Buhari administration in the past few months.