Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has carpeted President
Muhammadu Buhari’s claim that many of those who looted the public
treasuries in the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan had
started returning the stolen funds to the government, saying the
President should rather stay at home to govern the country instead of
junketing around the globe and acting like a saint before the
international community.
The governor challenged the President to tell Nigerians how much was
returned and the looters who returned the stolen funds, adding that
“Since the purported looted funds belong to the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, it ought to have been paid into the Federation Account and
shared by the Federal, State and Local Government.”
Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications and New
Media, Lere Olayinka, said in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti on
Thursday that Governor Fayose advised President Buhari to tackle the
collapsed economy of the country headlong instead of going from one
country to another, casting aspersion on Nigerians with his sing-song
of fighting corruption.
He said the President’s attitude was yet to change from that of 1984
when he was military Head of State, adding that; “Buhari’s statement
in Tehran, Iran that it was easier for him as a military Head of State
in 1984 to arrest corrupt individuals and put them in protective
custody was a pointer to the fact that he has not changed from the
dictator that he was then.
“The truth is that Buhari did not fight corruption in 1984. Rather,
he persecuted great Nigerians, especially the likes Chief Adekunle
Ajasin, Chief Ambrose Ali, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, Alhaji Lateef Jakande
and Chief Bola Ige, who served the people meritoriously.
“Is Buhari justifying the imprisonment of Dr Alex Ekwueme, who was
only the Vice President or All Progressives Congress (APC) leader like
Chief Bisi Akande, who only served as a Deputy Governor?”
While urging the President to stop acting like the sole-administrator
of Nigeria and the only honest man among Nigerians, Governor Fayose
said “Nigerians are desirous of concrete developments, not rhetoric
about fight against corruption that is only being used to persecute
perceived political enemies of the President both in the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) and within the APC.
“As at today, Nigerians are faced with serious hardship occasioned by
prolonged fuel scarcity that the Federal Government does not have any
solution to. Multi-national companies are laying-off thousands of
workers while contractors working for the Federal Government have left
their sites. Yet, what we get to hear from the President is noise in
foreign lands about non-existing fight against corruption.
“Honestly, this President should get to work and stop lying to
Nigerians and the international community.”
