In a statement made available to newsmen and signed by Kingsley Ogbonda and Tunde Doherty, directors of communications and campaigns, respectively, 2015GOUP expressed support for the on-going fight against corruption in the country. The group noted that reforming the judiciary would strengthen the fight against corruption, adding that Prof Itse Sagay’s Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption should expedite actions in producing its awaited report on the framework for fighting corruption in Nigeria. “We would be reaching out to international anti-corruption individuals and bodies for support in Nigeria’s effort to fight corruption,” the group stated, even as it called on the media to join President Buhari and do more investigative work to expose official corruption. “A leaf can be borrowed from the work of Anas Aremeyaw Anas in Ghana, whose investigative work has led to the public humiliation of no less than 20 Ghanaian judges caught in corruption scandal,” the statement added. However, 2015Group said it does not believe that President Muhammadu Buhari is unmindful of the respect of the ‘rule of law’, which it said is one of the fundamental principles of democracy. The group expressed dismay “that judges, who granted frivolous injunctions, allowed unmeritorious appeals and simply gave official thieves mere slap on their wrists, are allowed to keep their loot orchestrated by thieving politicians.” Lamenting that those judges are still presiding over cases of improprieties, 2015GROUP reminded Buhari’s critics that “the rule of law is not a mere slogan that should be mouthed glibly without regard to its intrinsic value.” Part of the statement read: “We do not believe that President Buhari is unmindful of the respect of the ‘’rule of law’’, which is one of the fundamental principles of democracy. “A quiet display of irritation caused by his enduring sense of patriotism and abiding sense of national duty should not by any stretch of imagination be elevated to an abuse of the rule of law. “We believe that the President has clearly demonstrated his belief in the rule of law by challenging his previous elections defeats in courts and accepting the verdicts regardless of some reservations of those judgements by observers.” Reiterating its call for immediate judicial reforms, the group expressed the hope that Prof Sagay’s committee will incorporate their concern in its final report. “We recall that the rule of law implies the inalienable condition that the judiciary must be fit for purpose. Therefore, with the zeal the majority of Nigerian judges, aided by disreputable lawyers, have been bending justice leads us now to call for the immediate and fundamental reform of the Nigerian judiciary.”]]>