President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerians to hold those who are corrupt accountable and desist from shielding or supporting those facing trial for looting the public treasury.

The President, represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, made this known on Thursday night at the end of a four-day plenary session organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria held at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Gwarinpa, Abuja.

According to him, “We want to put a system where anyone who holds public office is held accountable for whatever he does in public office so that resources of this great nation will satisfy all of us and will be used for the common good.

“We must hold those who are corrupt accountable, corruption is a crime against humanity, we must not make excuses for those who are corrupt, we as a government hold ourselves accountable for anything that we do.”

Buhari explained that the magnitude of corruption perpetuated by those facing trial remains a serious challenge to managing the nation’s natural resources.

“Our nation has a large number of extremely vulnerable and poor people. At the last count, it was over 100 million extremely poor people that is why we cannot afford governments that are corrupt, because the resources that are meant to satisfy many are consumed by only a few.

“Today, the President has done away with the way religion and ethnicity were being used to promote discord and to advance personal interests.

“Before the 2015 electioneering campaign, President Buhari met with Catholic Bishops where he said that his duty as president was to ensure fairness amongst people of all religions, people different faiths and people of different ethnicity.

“To ensure safety of lives and property and also ensure that people can worship in peace. He promised that as president, he will ensure that everyone enjoy equal rights and equal protection and he has lived up to his word.

“When we look at Boko Haram insurgency, and the suicide bombing; when a bomb goes off in any of the markets, it does not ask whether you are a christian or Muslim; all of us most condemn evil. Evil is evil.

“This year has been declared as a year of Mercy. We are all beneficiaries of the mercy of God, we would not have been in the positions we find ourselves if not for the mercy of God. All of the great heros we know are mere men, sinners in the hand of a Mercy,” the President stated.