A former minister of national planning under the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Sulaiman Abubakar, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of not dealing with corruption holistically.
In an interview with The Punch newspapers, Dr Abubakar advised the Buhari government to allow anti-corruption agenices to do their work without interruption and interference.
According to Abubakar, while the 2015 presidential campaign funds of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is under scrutiny, the All Progressives Congress (APC) funds should also be subjected to probe.
He said: ”The government of the day has the task, powers and all the agencies to themselves. The same government that is intimidating and pursuing members of the PDP should have the effrontery to also pursue APC members. The same political will they are using now to pursue PDP members should be used to pursue other people who are corrupt.”
Asked why his party used funds meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition to prosecute its campaign during the electioneering period, Abubakar said: ”It is still an allegation before the law court. We should allow the law court to handle it. People keep on talking about arms, arms, and arms but nobody has seen the facts and figures to know whether the money was meant for arms or not.”
He continued: ”If actually the money falls into security votes and it is being spent, we should go beyond what transpired under the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
”We should go beyond Dasuki’s period to know how security votes in this country have been spent before now. Now in this budget, billions of naira are being budgeted for security votes and for military offices. What for? Why are we not asking what the funds will be spent on?
”I think we should probe more on how security votes in Nigeria are being spent. Why are we being selective with Jonathan’s government? This is not to say that I align with corruption or that I support the destruction of the Nigerian economy.
”But I am asking why only PDP, why only Jonathan? Billions of money was spent to bring this government to power. Where did they get the money? Such money came from Rivers, Lagos and other APC-controlled states and most of those states used their security votes.”
Read the full interview here.
Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu has condemned the crackdown of members of his party, the PDP by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In an interview with The Punch newspapers, Dr Abubakar advised the Buhari government to allow anti-corruption agenices to do their work without interruption and interference.
According to Abubakar, while the 2015 presidential campaign funds of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is under scrutiny, the All Progressives Congress (APC) funds should also be subjected to probe.
He said: ”The government of the day has the task, powers and all the agencies to themselves. The same government that is intimidating and pursuing members of the PDP should have the effrontery to also pursue APC members. The same political will they are using now to pursue PDP members should be used to pursue other people who are corrupt.”
Asked why his party used funds meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition to prosecute its campaign during the electioneering period, Abubakar said: ”It is still an allegation before the law court. We should allow the law court to handle it. People keep on talking about arms, arms, and arms but nobody has seen the facts and figures to know whether the money was meant for arms or not.”
He continued: ”If actually the money falls into security votes and it is being spent, we should go beyond what transpired under the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
”We should go beyond Dasuki’s period to know how security votes in this country have been spent before now. Now in this budget, billions of naira are being budgeted for security votes and for military offices. What for? Why are we not asking what the funds will be spent on?
”I think we should probe more on how security votes in Nigeria are being spent. Why are we being selective with Jonathan’s government? This is not to say that I align with corruption or that I support the destruction of the Nigerian economy.
”But I am asking why only PDP, why only Jonathan? Billions of money was spent to bring this government to power. Where did they get the money? Such money came from Rivers, Lagos and other APC-controlled states and most of those states used their security votes.”
Read the full interview here.
Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu has condemned the crackdown of members of his party, the PDP by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
