TheCable

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of shielding his men from probe, wondering why Abdulrahman Dambazau, minister of interior, and Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, were not listed among the officers to be probed.

Following the recommendations of a committee, which audited procurement of arms, between 2007 and 2015, Buhari ordered the probe of top serving and retired military officers.

However, Fayose wondered why Dambazau, who was the number one army officer between 2008 and 2010, and Buratai, who also served in the procurement unit in the period covered by the audit, were not listed among those to be investigated.

Though Lai Mohammed, minister of information, later explained that the report of the committee would be released in phases, Fayose dismissed Mohammed’s statement, calling on Nigerians to demand the release of the authentic report of the committee.

“It is now obvious to the entire world that anyone that is in President Buhari’s good books can never be adjudged as corrupt even if such a person is caught looting the entire money in Nigeria’s treasury,” Fayose said in a statement issued on his behalf by Lere Olayinka, his spokesman.

“There are many petitions relating to defence from 2007 that are being discarded, the question is why? There are several petitions against APC leaders that are not being looked into, the question is why?

“Fighting corruption and targeting only opponents of the president is in itself corruption.

“Buhari’s’ minister of interior, Major General Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) was chief of army staff between 2008 and 2010 and the current chief Of army staff, Major General Tukur Buratai served as director of procurement, defence headquarters, from 2012 till May 2015.

“It is a fact that the committee in its terms of reference said it queried all procurement from 2007 to 2015. Even the Press Release issued was titled; ‘Third Interim Report of the report of presidential committee on audit of defence equipment procurement from 2007 to 2015.

“Questions Nigerians must now begin to ask President Buhari and his government are; where is the report of presidential committee on audit of defence equipment procurement relating to 2007 to 2010? Who doctored the committee report and why?

“Lai Mohammed said the Committee would commence the audit of procurement from 2007 to 2010 ‘as soon as the necessary documents are available’, it is necessary that Nigerians are told who the custodians of the documents are. Why were documents on procurement from 2011 and 2015 available and those of 2007 to 2010 not available?”

He alleged that the president has been “acting like the grandfather of corruption”, saying Buhari facilitated the release of a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He also faulted the manner in which the government handled the revelations of the Dubai assets traced to Buratai.

“Early this year, we were told that an ally of President Buhari and chieftain of the APC, Brig. General Jafaru Isa (rtd) refunded N100 million of the N170 million he allegedly received from ex-NSA, Sambo Dasuki,” he said.

“Jafaru Isa who was a member of the 19-man Buhari transition committee was released after he was allegedly assisted by the Presidency to refund N100 million to the anti-graft commission and since then, nothing has been heard about the case. He was not charged to court like others.

“It took the Ministry of Defence and the Code of Conduct Bureau only one week to clear Buratai but others from the opposition party would be languishing in prison while EFCC go about fishing for evidence against them.

“Like I and other well-meaning Nigerians have maintained, fighting corruption is a good idea but the moment documents of probe panels and being doctored to shield those seen as the President’s men, the entire purpose of the corruption fight has been defeated.”