The Presidency has advised the Peoples Democratic Party to stop distracting President Muhammadu Buhari with frivolous and unfounded allegations of selectivity in the war against corruption.
Reacting to the allegation by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said contrary to the opposition party’s allegations, President Buhari has not and would not shield any APC government official from facing prosecution for corruption.
The presidential spokesperson explained that since President Buhari came into office, he has never told the EFCC not to touch any APC governor because they belong to the same party.
According to Mr. Shehu, it was convenient for the PDP to remember the cases of Sule Lamido, but it pretended not to notice the fact that former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, who is an APC member, was also arrested and arraigned at the same time.
The senior special assistant challenged Mr. Metuh to produce any evidence or instance when President Buhari interfered in the activities of the EFCC by telling them who to prosecute and who to shield from prosecution.
Mr. Shehu also described as malicious and unfounded the allegation by Mr. Metuh that funds from the Excess Crude Account were being depleted by the Buhari administration to allegedly pay back APC Governors that contributed to his presidential campaign.
Mr. Shehu advised Mr. Metuh to either come forward with evidence, or apologize to Nigerians for willfully propagating falsehoods in order to gain cheap publicity or public sympathy.
The media aide said it was the responsibility of the former PDP administration to prosecute APC and PDP governors whose alleged cases of corruption were brought to its attention.
He said if the unseated PDP administration had these facts against APC governors, it was within its powers to prosecute them.
The presidency also advised the PDP to stop crossing its bridges before it came to them in order to intimidate the current administration from going ahead with its resolve to fight corruption at all levels.
On the allegation that the Buhari administration was secretly planning to award oil refining licences to its cronies, the Presidency described the accusation as absurd and ridiculous, adding that adherence to transparency and due process would always be President Buhari’s philosophy in doing things.
The statement said the Buhari administration was passionately committed to fighting corruption in all its ramifications, and that no amount of blackmail, distraction and false allegation would deflect him from this course in line with his campaign promises.
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