Corruption: Buhari Expresses His Mind Over Abuse Of Trust By Political Appointees As The Opposition PDP,Advises Him To Resign For Failing The Nation

Suleiman Umaru

President Muhammadu Buhari  a retired Army General is not a happy man. Initially he had seen the former   President Goodluck Jonathan admnistration as being very Corrupt, thus, throwing the country into an economic mess .

 But barely one year into his second term in office, the Katsina state born Nigerian President  has suddenly ealised that the same level of Corruption  that had bedeviled  the previous Administration has rubbed off on his  Administration.  Indeed, the level of Corruption in the  Buhari led All Progressive Congress, APC, government is so worrisome that  people  now describe  the Jonathan administration  as saint.

Buhari may have unbarred his mind last Friday  about the high level of Corruption in his government  after  a Sallah Service when the Presidential Villa when  Journalists posed questions him. Angered by the recent Coruption allegations  arising  from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commisssion, EFCC , and the  Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, he had expressed his worries over appointees of government placed on positions of trusts. ‘’There has been an abuse  of trust  by people  trusted by the previous Administration  and this Administration’’, referring to his administration, he had said. 

He has every reason to worry because of the allegations of Corruption levelled against  Ibrahim Magu, a Commissioner of Police and acting Chairman , EFCC, by Abubakar Malami, Attorney General and minister of Justice. Malami, the Attorney General of the Fedeation, had accused the  EFCC, boss of disclosing  a total naira recovery  of N504 billion but lodged N543 billion in the Recovery  Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. The amount lodged in the Recovery Account  was said  to have exceeded the disclosed figures by N39 billion, raising questions, where the extra amount paid into the Recovery Account  with the CBN , were raised?

 ‘’I said assets recovered  should be sold and the money put  in the TSA, so that  the money can be identified at any level’’.  He   disclosed  that the decision  was taken   to see ‘’who will come   back to them  and take it back again  to those who had  misappropriated the funds .

Magu: Denied Diverting Recovered Assets , Enriching Himslf In EFCC

Besides the ministerial allegations against the suspended former EFCC, boss, of not lodging what he has  declared to have recovered,  he  was said to have used the services of one Emmanuel  Omale, a Pastor and founder of   hand of God Prophetic Ministry  to buy a landed property worth N73 million  in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, UAE.

Magu was said to have told the Presidential panel investigating allegations of Corruptions  against him by the Attorney General that he fraudulently enriched himself by diverting and mismanaging  proceeds of recovered assets that he never did so.

An aggrieved Buhari had  confirmed that ‘’a number of assets was actually recovered  and some money from the looters by the EFCC.  He  had said  that the government  had  introduced  the Single Treasury Account, TSA, were all the money recovered  were put’’.  

Although Buhari  may claim credit for the introduction of the TSA, but it was  said  to have been initiated i  by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former minister of Finance and Coordinator of the economy under former President Jonathan but it could not be implemented by the  administration. It was one of the policies of the Jonathan administration that was said to have been inherited by the Buhari administration and   now being put into practice.

 In spite of the news making the rounds that Magu, the former  EFCC , boss , own property both within and outside the country, the Commission has come out strongly to defend him, insisting that he has no property anywhere. The Commission maintained that Magu, their former boss did not own any property, threatening ‘ to take legal action against the Media Platforms used by the blackmailers against the Commission and the former acting Chairman of the agency’’.

Nunieh: Former, MD, NDDC,Accussed Of Spending N40 Billion In Few Months

If the allegations of Corruption against Magu, was not worrisome enough, the allegations and counter allegations of Corruption  between Joi Nunieh , former Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC,  and Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom state , Senator and now minister of ministry of Niger Delta.  While Magu was being  investigated by the Presidential panel, the Femi Gbajabiamila, led House of Representatives Committee  on Niger Delta, is investigating the spending of N40 billion between May and August, 2019, under the Nunieh administration in the agency.

Notwithstanding the claim of the Aanti-graft agency that their former boss was clean of every allegations of Corruption  against  him by perceived blackmailers , the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,  would want Buhari to throw in the towel because of the increasing cases of  Corruption involving people appointed in positions of trusts across the country.  

Uche Secondus, the National Chairman of the party had accused Buhari of abandoning  the electioneering Campaign promises he made  at the 2015 and 2019, Presidential elections   to fight Corruption. Making reference  to the ongoing investigations of the EFCC, NDDC,  North East Development Commission, NEDC,  Nigeria  Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, and other agencies under the close watch of Buhari, Secondus, the PDP, National chairman, lamented that Nigeria under the APC, administration was on a ventilation gasping for breath.

Uche Secondus: Advises Buhari To Resign Over Rising Cases Of Corruption And Insecurity In The Country

According to him, ‘’ corruption has become a way of life among political appointees and other Nigerians while Buhari plays the Ostrich’’ The party maintained  ‘’what  the country is witnessing  today is a total collapse . But the APC, had described the call for the Buhari’s  resignation from office by the PDPD  as ‘’a silly idea’’.

The ruling APC, had told those that cares to listen that he Buhari administration ‘’ is  delivering  on the all the key Campaign promises of securing the nation, fighting corruption , improving  the economy  and livelihoods’’.  Yekini Nabena, APC, Deputy National Publicity Secretary, however, would want the PDP leadership to stay quiet and allow the Buhari administration  ‘’clear the rot  the party had foisted  on the country in its 16 years of rule.

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