THE Federal Government has been advised to ensure fair­ness and transparency in its anti-corruption battle in order not to give the impression of witchhunting any particular set of people.

The advise was given by Catholic archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, at the weekend. He said, Ni­gerians have agreed that there was an intolerable level of corruption in the country and that something should be done about it, but, it should not be done by just rounding up a few people.

“Government should not let people have a feeling that the war on corruption is about targeting certain or few people. That will defeat the war against corruption. My feeling about this whole thing is based on my understand­ing of the fact that the kind of corruption in Nigeria we had was systemic, endemic. While not saying people who took money should be allowed to go free, I would have felt that the emphasis should be on the system, reorganise the system of governance in the country in such a way that it would not be easy for anybody to steal millions and billions of naira because of the position he or she held in govern­ment .

“Find a way to block all the holes in the system; insist that the structures that regulate the affairs of governance, especially the financial aspect be done in such a way that you don’t have to be a saint to be able to remain honest.”

The Cardinal noted that it would be difficult to find any­body who had a hand in the affairs of this country in the last 20 years not to have something against him or her, but warned government against creating the impression of witchhunting.

While reacting to the trial of former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr Stephen Oronsaye, the Archbishop said government should be careful and protect those who could be facing trial based on having made enemies while in government.

“If we have a situation where someone stepped on pow­erful toes while in government and he is now being un­justly punished, I would have thought that this would be a concern of government that this does not happen.

“That being the case, the way we deal with the so called corrupt people needs to be carefully addressed, so as not to appear, in the words we are hearing nowadays, witch hunting. Why do you pounce on one person and leave oth­ers?”

Onaiyekan also advised that judges be allowed to do their work without harassment and intimidation.

“When I talk about structures, we are to include not only how business should be conducted in the civil service but, how the law should be administered. The whole sce­nario of 100 lawyers invading a court over one case; that is ridiculous . We should find a way to prevent such charade. We have to see that judges are in position to do their work without intimidation, without harassment.

“We are talking of separation of powers, without any­body telling them what to do. When we see the way some of the cases are going, one becomes a bit worried. Some of the judges have also come out to say that they were under strong influences, that they are not free to do their work. How many of them can resist any influences from above and from different places? We are back to the rules and to how things are done properly. I would have hoped that the whole process of dealing with the cases of corruption can be dispensed with without too much rigmarole and we still ensure that justice was done.”