By Reno Omokri
In 2012, allegations were made by opposition elements and their fifth columnists in the Jonathan administration against that government’s running of the oil sector.
The government was accused of not running a transparent oil industry and it was alleged that monies were mismanaged.
In response, the Jonathan administration initiated not one, not two, but three probes including one headed by a member of the opposition in the person of the highly skilled and highly credible Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who had ran as President in 2011 against the then incumbent.
One of the probes was a forensic audit by PriceWaterhouseCooper, perhaps the most thorough independent and internationally renowned audit firm. Not only were these probes instituted, but their results were made public.
Now fast forward to 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari’s minister of state for petroleum resources wrote a memorandum to the President which got leaked.
In it, he accused the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of awarding $25 Billion worth of contracts without due process. Till this very moment as you are reading this document, the President has not commented on this allegation neither has he, as the senior minister of petroleum, taken any steps to probe these allegations in a manner that is public and transparent, yet this is the same man who always accuses his immediate predecessor of corruption.
To put this $25 billion in perspective, that money can pay 1 million Nigerians minimum wage of ₦18,000 for 10 years and can educate 1 million Nigerians from nursery school to post graduate level.
Please cross check this fact!
On the 15th of February 2013, former President Jonathan ordered the then Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to take immediate disciplinary action against the then Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Force team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina.
This is a direct quote from then President Jonathan’s statement to the Head of Service: “President Jonathan directed the Head of Service to act expeditiously on the disciplinary proceedings against Alhaji Maina and report back to him on actions taken”.
President Jonathan also ordered the then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to immediately arrest Abdulrasheed Maina and personally update him on his efforts. Fast forward to 2017 and the present Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, said President Muhammadu Buhari was aware of the reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina because she personally told him before it happened and warned him about the negative implications of the act for the so called anti-corruption war.
In a leaked memo, Mrs. Oyo-Ita said: “I sought an audience with His Excellency, Mr. President on Wednesday, October 11th, 2017 after the FEC meeting where I briefed His Excellency verbally on the wide-ranging implications of the reinstatement of Mr. A. A. Maina, especially the damaging impact on the anti-corruption stance of this administration.”
Yet, the Buhari administration went ahead to recall, reinstate and double promote one of the alleged biggest thieves in world history, with the full knowledge and active participation of the President I might add.
The Buhari administration tried to shut down INTELS, a private firm, for not complying with the Treasury Single Account, meanwhile this hypocritical government was allowing NNPC, a public corporation, abuse the TSA to the tune of ₦50 billion.
If you still believe in President Buhari’s anti-corruption war, you probably still believe his promise of making dollar equal to Naira So, going from the above, I ask you, who is actually corrupt between President Buhari and former President Jonathan?
And permit me to ask you another question question: Obasanjo initiated EFCC/ICPC to fight corruption. Jonathan initiated BVN, IPPIS, GIMFIS, TSA & e-Wallet to fight corruption.
What has Buhari initiated to fight corruption other than blaming past administrations?
The only thing he can truthfully be credited with adding to the anti-corruption fight is the Whistleblower policy, but even that has become a cesspool of corruption and abuse. How many people have been paid based on this policy?
Little or none. The one man who exposed the Ikoyi billions (whose APC owner we do not know till today) was declared mad when he tried to claim his 5% and then forcefully removed to Yaba Psychiatric Hospital.
It took the intervention of the media to force the hand of the government and make it pay, not the 5% it promised, but a mere 2%. The man collected what they gave him and bolted from Nigeria before they could call him a psycho or serial killer!
In terms of anti-corruption credentials, President Buhari is in deficit while the past administrations he accuses are in credit. And Transparency International has taken note of this which is why despite all the razzmatazz and smoke and mirrors of the Buhari government’s media trial, Nigeria has made NO improvements in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.
The now obvious truth is that President Buhari is a hypocrite who weaponized his so called anti-corruption war for the purpose of hounding the opposition so that no one would be able to challenge his re-election bid because he knows that on the strength of his first term performance, Nigerians will not even vote for him to head a local government, how much more to lead their nation a second time. President Buhari’s anti-corruption war has not been looking for corruption, instead his goons have been looking for scapegoats and opponents that have the capacity to stop the President in his tracks, and if they cannot find evidence against them, they manufacture it, which has led to a suspension of belief in the President’s anti-corruption war on the part of the Nigerian people.
What a sad way to demystify yourself to the Nigerian people. Alas, what a very sad way!
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