Buhari won’t spare Jonathan if ex-president is proven corrupt –Presidency
In Nigeria’s
ongoing war against corruption, President Muhammadu Buhari will not spare
anyone who has a case to answer, and his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, would
face justice if guilty, presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, has said.
FILE PHOTO: President Muhammadu Buhari
and former President Goodluck Jonathan
|
Mr. Adesina told
PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, when he visited the newspaper’s office in Abuja,
that Mr. Buhari has “no accord” to shield any corrupt person from prosecution.
“There is no
accord,” he said, “if the corruption fight needs to get there (making Mr.
Jonathan face justice), it will get there.”
Several top
officials who served under Mr. Jonathan, as well as his political associates in
the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party, are currently being tried, or
investigated by the Economic and Financial crimes Commission, for corruption.
A major case involves
a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, accused of diverting $2.1
billion arms money, and sharing same to politicians and cronies of the former
president.
The spokesperson for the PDP, Olisa Metuh, also said he received payment from Mr. Dasuki after carrying out some assignments for the former president.
Those claims have raised questions regarding whether Mr. Jonathan, whom Mr. Buhari assured during transfer of power in 2015, that he had nothing to fear, would face prosecution should it be proven he has a case to answer.
Mr. Buhari has also been accused of bias against the PDP.
That allegations gained traction last week after his associate and party member, Jafaru Isa, was released by the EFCC despite facing what appeared a similar allegation as that against Mr. Metuh, the PDP spokesperson.
But Mr. Adesina denied the allegations against the president.
According to
investigators, Mr. Dasuki said he was authorized by Mr. Jonathan to release the
money for the nation’s security programmes, and for the 2015 presidential
campaign.
“There is no
accord that if corruption is proven, it will not be tried,” he said of the
former president. “With this president, nobody will be protected. And I
underscore it, if it needs to get anywhere, it will get there.”
He emphasized
that there was no agreement prior to the March 2015 presidential election that
Mr. Jonathan would not be made to face trial if corruption allegations were
proven against him.
Mr. Adesina
denied Mr. Buhari’s involvement in the release of Mr. Isa after the APC member
reportedly returned N100 million out of N170 million he was accused of
unlawfully receiving from Mr. Dasuki.
“If the
President had wanted to protect him, he would not have been arrested in the
first place”, Mr. Adesina said.
He said
investigations into other sectors, such as banking, and petroleum, would soon
start.
PREMIUM TIMES
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