Former Deputy National Publicity
Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank has called
on President Muhammadu Buhari to order immediate investigation in his “other
room.”.
According to the former
mouthpiece of the ruling party, the controversy surrounding the N2.5billion
allegedly stolen from the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari by her
AIde-De-Camp, ADC, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Sani Baban-Inna, needs
to be investigated properly.
Frank warned that any attempt to
cover up the matter will not augur well for Buhari’s integrity and his
administration’s anti-corruption crusade.
Frank said this in a statement he
issued in Abuja on Wednesday, insisting that an open, unbiased
and transparent probe of the scandal has become imperative to ensure that Mrs
Buhari is not unduly maligned or the ADC wrongly punished.
According to him, if nothing
concrete is done to unearth the truth, former First Lady, Mrs. Patience
Jonathan, who was in office for five years, will be a saint compared to Mrs.
Buhari who has just spent three and half years in office as First Lady.
He said: “The allegation that
your wife’s ADC has helped himself with N2.5billion allegedly routed through
him for the First Lady is too close home for comfort considering your strenuous
efforts in the last three years to rid the country of corruption.
“I don’t think this scam should
be swept under the carpet because as past incidences has shown, it will simply
refuse to remain buried. Mrs. Kemi Adeosun’s National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) exemption certificate scam that refused to die until she threw in the
towel as Minister of Finance should serve as a guide in this circumstance.
“Besides, Mr. President must
realize that this is a classical case of corruption right inside the “other
room” which now needs a full dose of “lawful insecticide” to flush out any
attempt at criminality at his Integrity Castle.
“I believe that this is a golden
opportunity for you to prove critics – who have consistently labeled your
anti-corruption fight as “selective” – wrong.
“Don’t forget that Patience
Jonathan is today being prosecuted by the EFCC over a sum of N3billion
allegedly found in her account after her husband’s exit from office.
“Moreover, I don’t think this is a
case for the police or the Department of State Services (DSS) to handle. I
believe the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission statutorily saddled with
the responsibility of flighting graft and financial crimes should immediately
take over this case and ensure speedy and transparent investigation of the
matter and ultimately prosecute those found culpable.
“To clamp the ADC in police or
DSS detention is tantamount to cover-up of vital information on the matter and
shielding of a suspect. Let the EFCC initiate his trial in a court of competent
jurisdiction if he had been found wanting.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I
make bold to say that Nigerians want to know the “politicians and business
people” that donated this money, how much was received and for what purpose.
“Good that Aisha has through a
statement by her Director of information, Suleiman Haruna, denied ordering the
arrest and detention of Baban-Inna, however she did not deny that she
petitioned the Inspector General of Police to cause an investigation into the
alleged stealing incident.
“I want Mr. President to know
that this ghost of corruption now inhabiting his inner sanctum will perpetually
haunt him and his administration if not urgently exorcised through an open and
transparent inquiry,” he said.
He also called on the nation’s
civil society organizations and the international community to closely monitor
the development on this high-wire corruption scandal at the very top to ensure
that the facts as to what has transpired is made known to Nigerians and the
world without delay.
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