Founder of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to carry out his anti-corruption war beyond the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan and extend it to former presidents Ibrahim Babangida, Olusegun Obasanjo and General Abdulsalam Abubakar (retd).
He told Daily Sun in an interview yesterday in his Lagos office that any attempt to probe Jonathan’s administration alone would amount to witch hunting.
According to him, President Buhari should also investigate all other past leaders, who had
ruled the country since 1960.
When asked if that would not be a complete distraction from other administrative responsibilities of the government, Fasehun argued that the Federal Government could employ the services of retired judges, who had good reputation to carry out the probe.
Some critics of Jonathan’s government have argued that if the immediate past president did not do that for five years of his administration, why should Buhari be asked to do that in four years.
In response to this, Fasehun said, “it is either Buhari probes all the past leaders who have ruled the nation since Nigeria gained her independence in 1960 or not carry out the probe at all.
“Why should Jonathan’s government be the only one to be probed?,” he asked rhetorically, saying if Jonathan’s administration was the only one that looted the nation’s treasuries, probing his government alone would be okay.
Fasehun, who will soon be 80 years old, however, lamented the rate of unemployment, poverty and poor level of education in the country, saying that if his Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), founded few years ago, was given the opportunity to govern Nigeria, all these problems would have been addressed.
President Buhari’s determination to recover the money looted by some individuals during the tenure of the immediate past president began from the day he allegedly met the government treasury empty on his assumption of office three months ago.
He has vowed to recover the money looted and stashed in foreign banks by those corrupt Nigerians, according to his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.
Adesina had quoted him as saying, “the next three months may be hard, but billions of dollars can be recovered, and we will do our best.”
Daily Sun gathered that Nigeria’s stolen funds had been traced to the USA, UK, Switzerland and other countries and the president was passionate about recovering them, to enable his government get enough money to carry out his electoral promises to Nigerians, now that the prices of crude oil have crashed.
“Where is the money recovered from Abacha during the past administration? What did the government use the money for? Our leaders have been leading us with falsehood,” Fasehun asked. While canvassing for votes during his campaign early this year, Buhari had said, “if we don’t kill corruption in this country, corruption will kill Nigeria.”This statement was one of the reasons Nigerians voted for the man, who was dethroned 30 years ago as a military head of state by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and his military team, for alleged hardship people faced when he (Buhari) carried out his War Against Indiscipline
Source | The Sun