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Tag: Corrupt

  • PDP questions Buhari’s integrity, says president surrounded by corrupt people

    PDP questions Buhari’s integrity, says president surrounded by corrupt people

    Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption insisting that the president is surrounded by the corrupt people his administration should be fighting.

    The party also questioned the president’s perceived integrity.

    It further described the claim by the President that opposition could see that he was trying as an admittance of failure.

    The President Buhari had on Thursday said members of the opposition cannot fault the efforts his administration had made in its three major areas of focus, namely security, economy and the fight against corruption.

    The party insisted that the President had failed in the three cardinal promises he made to Nigerians when he was campaigning in 2015.

    The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, who spoke with one of our correspondents in an interview in Abuja, also debunked the claim by the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, that the performance of Buhari’s government was satisfactory to God.

    He said, “Here is a President who is surrounded by corrupt people, people who have corruption cases hanging on their necks. Where then is the much-touted integrity of the man?

    “If you claim not to be a thief, but you are surrounded by thieves, you eat with them, open your doors for them and play with them? Are you not supposed to be worried?

    “Where then is the integrity? Every suspected corrupt person is becoming your friend. Everyone being tried for stealing and corruption is wining and dining with you. Then you say you have integrity. President Muhammadu Buhari has shown Nigerians his friends and we now know the kind of person he is.”

    Ologbondiyan said the President could not have sincerely claimed to have succeeded in the fight against insurgency and revamp of the economy as well.

    In the area of insurgency, he said the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan was able to restore normalcy to the North-East, adding that this was responsible for the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct elections in the zone in 2015.

    He said, “The President has indeed failed in the three areas he promised Nigerians. The indices before Nigerians testify to this.

    “He has not solved any problem at all. He made the promise that he would fight insurgency, fight corruption and also revamp the economy.

    “The PDP government has fought insurgency to the extent that elections were held and results declared in all the local government areas in North-East by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The outcome of the elections made the commission to declare President Buhari as the winner. Today, some areas in the zone have been taken over by insurgents.”

    On the economy, he said Nigerians were worse off.

    “Interest rates have gone up. Banks no longer have the capacity to grant loans. The lending facilities handed over to this government by the PDP government are all wiped off.

    “Today, there is no middle class. So, where is the said performance? When he is rejected by Nigerians next year, he will go to his village, regretting that he has disappointed the people who elected him to serve them.”

     

  • Buhari running most corrupt government since 1999 – Atiku

    A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the President Muhammadu Buhari of presiding over the most corrupt government since the nation’s return to democracy in 1999.

    Atiku spoke in Abakaliki on Tuesday while addressing supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the state secretariat of the party. He was in Ebonyi to continue his campaign to emerge PDP presidential candidate in 2019.

    He said the only achievement the All Progressive Congress (APC) -led government can boast of is fighting corruption; but argued that fighting corruption is not the only responsibility of government.

    “What is happening today in our country is in contravention with all our provisions of our constitution. In our federation, we are supposed to have an inclusive government but you know that this federal government is not inclusive.

    “You know that this federal government is not united, you know that this federal government is incompetent, you know that this federal government is more corrupt than any government we have come through since 1999.

    “So, let nobody come and deceive you on corruption. They are more corrupt than any government that I know since 1999 and we shall be revealing their level of corruption. Fighting corruption alone is not the only responsibility of government.

    “Our unemployment has accelerated high and there has never been a time we had more than 11million people, young people, young women thrown out of job. Today, we have more than 11 million unemployed people. Today, we have witnessed much insecurity in this country. Today, we are witnessing high inflation the APC government has brought to us in this country,” he said.

    Atiku told the mammoth crowd that he was in the state to seek their support to defeat President Buhari in 2019.

    He said the coalition formed by PDP and about 37 other parties was the first step in voting out the president in next year’s general election.

    “Yesterday, 40 political parties came together to meet themselves to present one candidate for presidential election. The coalition is going to have one candidate for presidential election, one candidate for governor, one candidate for senator, one candidate for House of Reps, one candidate for House of Assembly, one candidate for party chairman.

    “We need this alliance because what I have seen in the last three years is what I have not seen in the last 35 years in this country. Therefore, we are determined, we are united and we are ready to make sure that in the next election whether state or national or federal, we will kick out APC in every state in this country.

    “We have never experienced the level of poverty we are facing today. They are selling crude oil around $70 dollars per barrel, when we came in 1999 it was around $10 per barrel.

    “I want to assure you that your party is ready to take that power but we can only do so through your support and your unity of purpose. You are our bosses, if you tell us to go right we will go, if you tell us to go left we will go; but at the end of the day you must accept responsibility if you take us to the wrong direction,” the aspirant said.

    While receiving him, Governor David Umahi said the South-east will negotiate the 2019 presidency and that the zone will vote for a presidential candidate who will develop the zone.

    “The people of Ebonyi State, the people of South-east will sit down with anybody that is asking our votes to rule this country to negotiate. South east will not follow wrong path again. Anybody that wants the votes of South-east will sit on the table with the leaders of South-east, we shall agree, we shall write it, we shall sign it, we shall seal it.

    “At a time I am the chairman of South-east governors’ forum, we shall come together and all the areas of marginalisation that we have been talking about, it is a time to discuss with our PVCs. The votes of the South-east will be decided by the leaders of South-east and any leader that is in agreement with our terms, we will follow the person,” he said.

     

  • 2019: Why some corrupt, desperate politicians want Buhari to fail – Presidency

    …Says Nigerians stand with the president

    The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, has attributed insecurity and killings in the country to corrupt politicians.

    He said the politicians involved were those who no longer had access loot public treasury.

    Shehu, who stated this on Monday in Abuja while speaking with journalists, said such politicians were bent on taking the shine out of the Buhari-led administration.

    “The competition for power has become fiercer because the stakes are very high,” he said.

    According to Shehu, the president is being attacked especially because he has unleashed on the country, a war against corruption.

    This, he said, had never been so in the country as access to public treasury for looting had been blocked to some persons.

    The aide, however, said that the president was lucky because he had a judiciary which was transforming itself and was on the same page with him in fighting corruption.

    “As I speak to you now, two former state governors are in jail; a lot of people thought that this war against corruption is a joke and that the back-and-forth that had characterised this over time, will continue.

    “One of the two cases was determined after 11 years of back-and-forth between lawyers and Judges, kicking the ball from this court to that court.

    “A lot of these harsh attacks against the president are coming from people who had become used to life style they cannot sustain.

    “On record, there were people in this country, because they are influential, they had permanent suite in major hotels in Abuja where they leave lavishly at public expense.

    “And, when they are leaving, they are accompanied with bags of Ghana-Must-Go,” he said.

    Shehu added that the president had blocked access to national resources for lazy people, politicians, especially those who were fighting back, because they were not happy.

    He said that the Buhari-led federal government was building infrastructure across the country.

    According to him, there is no state in the country where a minimum of two federal roads are not being newly constructed or reconstructed.

    “We have more electricity that cannot be consumed, 2,000 megawatts of electricity that nobody is taking.

    “By the year ending, we are going to hit 10,000 megawatts from the 2,600 that we inherited,” he said, adding that government’s problem was how to sell and distribute electricity to those who needed it.

    The president’s aide noted that those criticising Mr Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not give up as 2019 elections drew closer.

    “They will continue to fight the president, but the happiness we have is that ordinary low-level Nigerians understand the huge conspiracy.

    “Nigerians are with the president, the elite are going to places – America and the United Kingdom – and they are clicking in posh homes in Abuja, Lagos and some major cities in the country.

    “They are trying to thwart the goodwill of the president towards the people.

    “But, this economy is being re-built; more foreign investment is coming, more infrastructure is being given to Nigerians and even the security infrastructure which had suffered neglect over the years is being given priority,” he said.

    Shehu added that if those attacking the president had done what they ought to have done by equipping and training the military, things would have been different.

    He maintained that no government in the past was doing as much for the military and the police as the current administration.

    He said the Federal Government was putting in place infrastructure in the prisons and the EFCC that people may think that it was lavishing much money on the institutions.

    Shehu also said that the government was putting in place world-class infrastructure for Nigerians, and the government understood that its detractors wanted to take away attention from it.

    He reaffirmed that the government would continue to stay on the message and on course, no matter the distraction.

    He expressed optimism that the APC would not only win the presidency in 2019, but would win more states, especially in the South-East.

     

  • Reps accuse NNPC of hiring corrupt firms for refineries’ TAM

    The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the fresh Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) being planned for the country’s four refineries on Tuesday queried the criteria used in selecting the consortium of firms listed for the contracts.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had set aside over $1.8bn for the repairs, which it preferred to call comprehensive rehabilitation, as against the traditional TAM.

    The House is investigating the desirability of another TAM on the refineries after a series of TAM in the past reportedly gulped over $20bn and still left the plants operating at below 20 per cent installed capacities.

    The panel, which is headed by a member of the All Progressives Congress from Kaduna State, Mr. Garba Datti-Muhammad, had summoned the NNPC to produce documents on the status of the refineries and the financial implications of running them at the expense of taxpayers.

    But, on Tuesday, after examining the documents, lawmakers observed that some of the firms engaged to carry out the fresh $1.8bn TAM were facing corruption charges across the globe, including the celebrated $1.2bn Malabu Oil deal linked to former top officials of the Nigerian government.

    Among the consortia of firms on the NNPC’s list are names like Trafigura, Eni, MIRS and Sahara.

    The lawmakers particularly cited the case of Eni, whose directors are being prosecuted in some countries, including Italy.

    Aside from the allegations of fraudulent transactions hanging against some of the firms, the committee also pointed out that they were oil marketers and did not appear to have the technical background to repair refineries.

    The lawmakers grilled the Chief Operating Officer, Refineries and Petrochemicals, NNPC, Mr. Anibor Kragha, at the resumed sitting of the committee in Abuja on Tuesday.

    A member of the committee and Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Mr. Razak Atunwa, leading the questioning, asked how the NNPC would still engage firms “facing corruption and fraud allegations around the world.”

    Atunwa stated, “These firms, and I can see Eni on your list; are you saying that they are going to handle this work for you in spite of all the issues they have?

    “You are saying that firms with fraud cases over their necks in Italy and elsewhere around the globe will be the ones to work for Nigeria? What was your reason for selecting them?”

    Incidentally, it was Atunwa who chaired another panel of the House that investigated the $1.2bn Malabu deal.

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan and his ministers, including Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and Mr. Mohammed Adoke, were named in the Malabu deal.

    Another member of the committee and former oil industry unionist, Mr. Peter Akpatason, told the session that he was aware that some of the firms were mainly oil marketers.

    However, Kragha claimed that the idea was not to use the firms to handle the rehabilitation of the refineries directly, but to act as funding facilitators.

    He also told the committee that the firms had been deeply involved in the oil sector in Nigeria, providing technical support and training at several levels to the oil corporation.

    Kragha explained that the real work on the refineries would be executed by the original builders.

    “We are contacting the original builders of the refineries. There are a whole lot of discussions involved this process,” he added.

    Kragha told the committee that the NNPC was sourcing the funds required for the repairs, as the refineries were behind schedule for the usual two-yearly TAM by over 10 years.

    Amid the barrage of questions from the lawmakers, Kragha lost his temper, resulting in the exchange of hot words between him and the House members.

    Atunwa, in particular, took exception to Kragha’s conduct as he raised his voice.

    He shouted, “I will ask you questions and you will answer me; don’t be tricky about it! You don’t talk back to me. This is the parliament of Nigeria. I am elected to ask you questions and you are to answer me.

    “You sit down there in your office, spending billions of naira and you are not doing the work you are paid to do. Who are you?”

    Kragha too replied angrily, “I am not being tricky; I have been answering your questions. Don’t shout me down; stop shouting at me that way!”

  • Looters list: Buhari presiding over most corrupt govt in history – Fayose

    Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has faulted the list of alleged looters released by the Federal Government on Sunday.

    Fayose described the list as a “concocted and afterthought to cover the shame of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.”

    The governor also accused President Muhammadu Buhari of presiding over “the most corrupt government in the history of Nigeria and protecting looters of the country’s commonwealth.”

    He likened Buhari to a father who is protecting his children that are armed robbers but calling on security agents to arrest children of his neighbour for stealing meats from their mother’s pot,

    Fayose in a statement on Monday by his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, insisted that the administration Buhari presides over lacks the moral justification to call some people “looters” alleging that his (Buhari’s) presidential nomination form was procured with looted cash.

    He reiterated that Nigerians were more interested in their welfare, security of their lives and physical development of the country than tales of concocted lists of corrupt Nigerians, who are only corrupt in the estimation of the government because they do not belong to the APC.

    Fayose said: “With the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, saying that corruption has become more endemic in Nigeria than it was in the last 16 years.

    “With the country moving 12 places below its rating, a honourable government would have stopped using fight against corruption as its major achievement and releasing names of people that are still under trial as looters just to cover up its failure.

    “The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) never pretended to Nigerians that it had corrupt people in its fold and the party never protected them. Today, the party has gone ahead to offload the corrupt elements into the APC and they were not only accepted gladly into the party, they were given prominent appointments by the President.”

    “For any lists of alleged looters to be credible, the President, who is protecting looters should be number one while those looters in his government should follow.

    “His nomination form was bought with proceeds of corruption and those who bought the form and financed his election were paid back with the return of all their seized properties, ministerial appointments and even disappearance of prosecution witnesses in EFCC cases.

    “A government that reinstated and promoted Abdullahi Maina, who was declared wanted for corrupt practices by the International Police Organisation, (INTERPOL) and dismissed in 2013 for alleged N2.1 billion pension fraud and used APC broom to sweep the $25 billion contracts scam in the NNPC under the carpet is nothing but a government of plunderers and that is the clear definition of Buhari’s government.

    “It was in this same government that the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole suspended the National Health Insurance Scheme Executive Secretary, Professor Usman Yusuf for alleged corruption and the President recalled him even without the knowledge of the Minister.

    “Up till today, nothing has happened to the probe panel on the allegedN500 million bribery said to have been paid to the President’s Chief of Staff (COS), Abba Kyari by officials of MTN to influence government to discontinue its heavy stance on the $5 billion fine imposed on the company.

    “Therefore, no matter how hard they try now, they can no longer hoodwink Nigerians with their deceit of fight against corruption. Even APC Senator, Shehu Sani once said that the President uses insecticide to fight corruption involving his perceived political opponents, but use deodorant when it comes it affects his own men.”

  • Nigerian judicial system not corrupt; only few judges are – Onnoghen

    The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, has said the entirety of the Nigerian judicial system is not corrupt but some few judges within the system are.

    According to a statement signed by his media assistant, Awassan Bassey, the CJN spoke at the 2018 refresher course for judges with the theme: ‘Enhancing the Quality of Judicial Services’. The programme was held at the National Judicial Council, Abuja on Monday.

    The statement said Onnoghen condemned certain acts of corruption noted among judicial officers and highlighted efforts being taken to sanitise the sector.

    “Our nascent democracy has to be nurtured, consolidated and developed. Democracy in itself is nothing if the implication of the fundamental principles enshrined in the constitution of this nation cannot be readily determined in constitutional adjudication by a judiciary manned by upright judicial officers. This is premised on the fact that, as the society depends on justice, those who are singularly advantaged to do justice to all manners of persons must ensure that they themselves are standing upright, far away from all manners of injustice.

    “The prestige of the Judiciary is indeed essential in the system of government such as ours in which the Judiciary functions independently. The behaviour of judges is, in the circumstance, closely scrutinised to guarantee continued confidence in the integrity of the courts. The combination of power, responsibility and humanity accounts for both the most exemplary and sometimes, the most regrettable judicial conduct. To this end, judges must exercise decorum in all their undertakings.

    “My Lords, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, you will agree with me that a corrupt judge is not only a disgrace to the Bench and the noble profession, but also a disaster to the course of justice and the nation. I must not fail to emphasise here that my definition of corruption is not limited to bribe-taking, but includes the giving of judgements or orders based on any consideration other than legal merit,” the statement said.

    According to the statement, the CJN however denied any insinuation that the entire judicial sector was corrupt.

    “I must state categorically, however, lest I am accused of the fallacy of hasty generalisation, that the Judiciary in Nigeria is not corrupt or inefficient. It is an established fact that the Judiciary in Nigeria is as good as the best anywhere in the world. Only few judges are found wanting.”

    The statement further said Mr. Onnoghen expressed dissatisfaction with the remuneration of judicial workers at the state level, describing this as a major challenge.

    “My Lords, it is true that the Judiciary at the federal level enjoys full financial independence. Unfortunately, however, the same cannot be said of the state judiciaries. The funding of the Judiciary is crucial as it is the most important index for assessing its independence.

    “The issue of adequate funding at the state level is one of the greatest challenges confronting the Judiciary of this nation. It is imperative that the applicable provisions of the 1999 Constitution be duly amended to solve problems of State judiciaries. It is my hope that within the limits of our limited resources, the judiciary will continuously strive to achieve its constitutional mandate”.

     

  • Immortalise Fela’s ideas to achieve a corrupt free society – Lumumba tells African leaders

    A Kenyan Professor of Law, Prof. Patrick Lumumba has urged Africans to immortalise Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and his ideal of a corrupt-free society.

    Lumumba said this during the 2017 Felabration, with the theme: “40 Years after FESTAC, 20 Years after Fela, Wither the Pan-African Dream?”

    Felabration is an annual music festival conceived in 1998 by Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti in memory and celebration of her father Fela, a Nigerian musician and human rights activist known for pioneering the afrobeat genre of music.

    Lumumba said that Fela had remained evergreen because of his ideas which emanated from his observation of the society years back.

    “To achieve a corrupt free society, we must immortalise Fela’s ideas as most of his songs had attested to the fact that he had seen corruption deeply entrenched in everything in Nigerians.

    “We need to immortalise Fela’s ideas and make corrections, take positive steps to adjust,” he said.

    “I quite appreciate Fela’s non-materialistic nature, he never indulged in acquiring material wealth, he had only one house,” he said.

    “If Nigeria can get it right politically, African problems will be solved and we will be making progress.

    “As patriotic Africans, we must ask ourselves questions of our origin and dig into it.

    “Africans must be alive to their challenges and take conscious effort in solving those problems.

    According to him, Africa’s biggest problem which is corruption must be tackled through deliberate effort of every individual and most especially the politicians.

    He said that corruption was evident mostly in public sectors hence ideological schools should be established for political parties to correct every negative intention before any politician assumed office.

    He urged Africans to take pride in who they are, shun inferiority complex and seek to know more of their history which would help them to solve present problems.

    Lumumba also lauded the Nigerian fashion industry for promoting the local designs and made in Nigerian wears.

    “Nigerians are the best-dressed men and women in the world but most of the textile industries are moribund.

    He appeal for the revamping of the textile industries.

    Also, Mr Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, one of the panelist urged parents to groom their wards in indigenous languages and culture so that they would not lose touch from their root.

    “I was Fela’s lawyer in his lifetime and I love his commitment to African culture and correcting societal ills.

    “We need to take our culture seriously, in my house, me and my wife speak our indigenous language to our children so they speak English in school.

    “I want us to emulate Fela; he changed his western name “Ransom” to Anikulapo because he believed so much in our culture.

    “So let’s have people here who will denounce their western names and embrace the indigenous ones,” he said.

    Mr Abraham Ogbodo, a Senior Editor with the Guardian Newspaper, one of the panelists called for the integration of the word “Felabration” in English dictionary.

    He said that Felabration had been in existence for 20 years and should be recognised beyond the shores of the nation.

     

    NAN

  • ‘Nigeria Police Force is not corrupt,’ says NPF spokesman

    A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in conjunction with National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and others had released a report titled “Corruption in Nigeria: Bribery: Public experience and response” Which has described police officers as the most corrupt.

    The report which was released Wednesday in Abuja indicated that police officers are the type of public officials to whom bribes are most commonly paid in Nigeria.

    The police ranked high with 46.4 percent while prosecutors ranked directly after them with 33.0 percent.

    Other public officials put into perspective are Judges and magistrates, tax and revenue officers, customs officers and public utilities officers.

    Reacting to the report, the Force Spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood described the report as false.

    He also urged Nigerians to disregard the report noting that there is no way the Nigeria Police Force officials could be corrupt.

    He said: “I don’t think the UNODC are for such purpose. We have not seen such report and we cannot react to what we have not seen but what I know is that Nigeria Police Force is not corrupt.

    “Corruption is a personal thing and Nigeria Police Force is not a corrupt institution and it is not for anybody to have made such allegation.

    “The allegations are mischievous because it is not empirical and we distant ourselves from such and we want all Nigerians to condemn such.

    “In fact a lot of changes have been introduced into the Force to ensure that we are accountable to the people.

    “Such a report is unacceptable by the Force and we want everybody to disregard such because the Nigeria Police is not corrupt. The allegation is not empirical and it cannot stand any test or proof. It is misleading.”

  • Behave yourselves, I have zero tolerance for corruption – IGP warns officers

    The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, on Wednesday warned officers of the force to shun corruption and abuse of citizens’ rights or face sanctions.

    Idris gave the advice at the opening of the training of police officers on the effective implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in Abuja.

    The training was organised by the Nigeria Police Force in conjunction with the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.

    “Let me use this opportunity to advise you to shun corruption and the abuse of the rights of citizens while performing your duties.

    “This administration has zero tolerance for corruption and abuse of human rights, “he said.

    He said that any officer caught engaging in corrupt practices and other unwholesome acts would be punished in accordance with the law.

    “I assure you that your welfare as police officers is paramount and I must do everything possible to meet up with it, “he said.

    He enjoined the participants to make good use of the training to improve their day-to-day operations in their stations and formations.

    The inspector-general said that the training was aimed at inculcating in police officers across board, the need to police in accordance with the Act.

    “This will eliminate all forms of illegal conducts that are not in conformity with our creed, “he said.

    He noted that unlawful arrest, prolonged detentions without order of court among others, had given rise to judgments against the police.

    Idris restated that the police under his administration would operate within the rule of law and respect for rights of Nigerians.

    The President, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George, called on the Federal Government to adequately fund the police for optimum performance.

    He also said that there was need to recruit more personnel to enhance the operations of the police in all nooks and crannies of the country.

    Akinseye-George urged the National Assembly to give the Police Trust Fund bill before it, speedy consideration.

    He said that the centre was ready to collaborate with the police toward the development of a modern Police Act.

    The president said that if given the required resources, the police would check corruption and insecurity in the country.

    He noted that the police was central to the effective implementation of the ACJA.

    The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, who was represented by Justice Emmanuel Agim, said the training sought to improve the capacity of police officers.

    She said that to effectively enforce the law, police officers must have the moral will.

    Bulkachuwa said that enough money must be spent on training and investigation for good end-result, adding that investigations in the country were associated with more problems.

    She advised that thorough investigation should be carried out before arresting a suspect.

    “Lack of fund for investigation will force a police officer to sit in his office, “Bulkachuwa said.

     

  • Anti-graft war: Fear belongs to corrupt past leaders, Buhari replies Jonathan

    Anti-graft war: Fear belongs to corrupt past leaders, Buhari replies Jonathan

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday reacted to claims by former President Goodluck Jonathan that his (Buhari’s) administration was harassing his (Jonathan’s) family, insisting that ‘fear belongs to those who have abused trust while in office.’

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Jonathan made the claims in a new book “Against The Run of Play”, written by the Chairman of ThisDay Editorial Board, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi that the present administration was hounding members of his family with its anti-corruption crusade.

    In a statement by Buhari’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina on Wednesday, President Buhari told Jonathan that “fear belongs only to those who have abused trust while in office.”

    The president asked anyone with valuable grievances to approach the courts for redress.

    The statement reads: “The Presidency is constrained to respond to the banner headline story in a national newspaper of Wednesday, April 26, entitled: Buhari’s govt harassing my family, saying Jonathan. “The paper said former President Goodluck Jonathan made the allegation in a new book, “Against The Run of Play”, written by the Chairman of ThisDay Editorial Board, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi.

    “The former president also reportedly disagreed with the style being used by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in fighting corruption.

    “We make bold to state unequivocally that President Buhari harasses nobody; he merely allows the law to take its course. For the umpteenth time, we say that anybody without skeleton in his or her cupboard, has nothing to fear about the bared fangs of the anti-corruption initiative.

    “Fear belongs only to those who have abused trust while in office. Anybody who feels aggrieved is free to approach the courts to seek redress or justice. President Buhari believes in the rule of law and that is why his campaign against corruption is anchored on that plank.

    “With regard to President Buhari’s anti-graft style, which the former president deprecates, given the scale of revelations and recoveries so far by the anti-corruption agencies, it is obvious that corruption had an uninhibited course during our recent past.

    “In any case, time will give the verdict on whose style of fighting corruption ultimately yielded the most dividends.

    “For now, President Buhari is resolute and single-minded in the fact that his crusade against graft is not targeted at any individual or group.

    “He firmly believes that national interest must always be placed above personal interest, no matter who is involved.”