President Muhammadu Buhari says a
former president has questions to answer over the $16 billion power project.
Buhari said this on Tuesday when he hosted the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) led by Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Although he did not mention the
name of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Buhari asked “where was the power after
a former president claimed to have spent $16 billion on the project?”
“You know the rail was killed and
one of the former heads of state was bragging that he spent more than 15
billion American dollars on power. Where is the power? Where is the power?” he
asked.
In 2008, the house of
representatives had described $16 billion spent on power by Obasanjo’s
government as colossal waste, blaming it on “poor budget planning” and a lack
of proper oversight by relevant bodies.
Two years ago, the Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged Walter Onnoghen, chief justice
of Nigeria, to appoint an independent counsel to investigate allegations of
corruption in the spending of $16 billion on electricity by Obasanjo’s
government.
Buhari told his guest that his
government had invested heavily in infrastructure.
He also appealed to Nigerians to
live in one accord, narrating his experiences before he won the 2015 election.
“Now, we have to pay debts. This
year and last year’s budget had the highest in capital projects: more than 1.3
trillion naira. Let anybody come and confront me publicly in the national
assembly,” he said.
“What have they been doing? Some
of them have been there for 10 years, what have they been doing? I said it
about eight years ago that we have no other country than Nigeria. We should
remain here and salvage it together no matter what you have outside. Now we get
some of the people with houses here and may be in Abuja or somewhere in America
and Europe, they swear, some of them to God, that it doesn’t belong to them.
“But their accounts, through the
banks, through their companies, it is their own. But they say it’s not their
own. This is a terrible time and the people are saying what are we doing? Why
can’t you lock them up? And again, I went on by telling them that when I was in
uniform, younger and rather ruthless, I got from the president downward locked
up.
“I said you’re guilty, except you
prove yourselves innocent. I myself was locked up and those who misappropriated
public funds were given back what they had taken away. Who did anything about
it?
“Then I decided to come again. I
tried one, two, three four times. God agreed. And the third time I came and met
a statesman outside the supreme court. My chief lawyer was Mike Ahamba, Roman
Catholic and Igbo. He had witnessed in the box and asked the panel of judges
that they should check on certain constituencies in certain states to bring us
our register so that we can prove that the people that voted there were the
people INEC submitted.
“They said ‘ah! We shall do it.
They said no, you must write it. They wrote it. Whether to send to NEC or INEC
refused them but when they came to give judgment, this issue was not raised.
Another Igbo man, a Roman Catholic, he said that this is what happened. He was
among the panel of the judges, he wrote a minority report in my favour. So, why
this question of religion and ethnicity and so on. People are worshipping the
dollars, the sterlings not to even talk of the naira.
“He wrote a minority reports
saying this is what we have decided. But the president of that court was my
classmate for six years in secondary school; he is from my own state. So,
please, we have nothing to regret. Absolutely nothing. Since we all believe
that God works in our hearts not in our talking. God help us, God help our
children and grandchildren. We will try as much as we can to work and bring
this country back to its senses. God has given Nigeria everything; we are rich
in human and material resources that let us keep praying to God that He should
put people of conscience in charge at all levels.”
Buhari, you can be sure Obasanjo will more than respond to your questions.
ReplyDeleteThe question is whether the $16B allegedly spent on power by the Obj regime was a colossial waste orc not..Let Obj defend himself as nobody should be above the law
DeleteGod bless President Buhari....
ReplyDeleteIs he just knowing that now that Obasanjo has refused to endorse him for a second term?
ReplyDeleteUseless government, it is only when you speak about the problem facing the country you become their enemy all these while you did not come out to ask OBJ question now that is against your failure government you are now coming out to drill him, whether you like it or not you will surely go come 2019 because the suffering of the masses is too much.
ReplyDelete