Eminent Nigerians respond on Buhari"s probe on Jonathan"s administration

EMINENT Nigerians and groups were unanimous, yesterday, in their support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s vow to probe the immediate past Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s Administration.

They were, however, divided over the scope, time-frame and those to be probed. While some wanted the probe to be limited to the Jonathan administration, some countered that it should be extended to all past governments. There were also calls that the probe should be extensive, thorough, transparent and devoid of witch-hunt.

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, weekend, President Buhari, who said he met a near empty treasury on assumption of  office, restated his decision to probe the Jonathan’s government to recover the billions of dollars that have not been accounted for.

Last week, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) asked President Buhari to probe the immediate past administration over the $5.5bn dividends said to have been paid to the Federal Government by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited. It also wanted taxes and dividends accruable to the Jonathan administration through the NLNG in the last six years unearthed.

When the issue of probe was first mentioned late May, Dr. Jonathan urged President Buhari not to focus only on his administration, saying it would amount to a witch-hunt if only his administration was probed. He had said, “I think in Nigeria, there are a lot of things that will be probed, very many things, even debts owed by states and debts owed by this country from 1960 up to this time. They say it is Jonathan’s administration that owed these debts… I believe that anybody that is coming for probe must also ensure that this probe is extended beyond the Jonathan administration. Otherwise, to me, it will be witch-hunt. If we are very sincere, it is not only the Jonathan administration that should be probed.”

It’s an attempt to recover our stolen wealth—Sagay

Throwing his weight behind the move, Constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN, said the planned probe is an avenue to recover the nation’s stolen wealth from those who pilfered the country’s treasury.

Sagay said: “The way I see it is this: the Buhari administration met a virtually empty treasury. The treasury has been looted in various guises, the NNPC has been a source of massive looting. As far as I am concerned, I will not call what he is doing as probing of any administration, it is an attempt to recover Nigeria’s stolen wealth so that the administration can work. I truly support it.

“In the process of trying to recover the stolen money, if he has to probe any government, present or past, let him probe, but the money has to be recovered. People should not come into government and now suffer from some sort of amnesia and think that state funds belong to them personally while the country is living in pains and poverty as we are now. Salaries cannot be paid in so many states, so Buhari is right in his struggle to recover our stolen wealth.”

 

Eminent Nigerians respond on Buhari"s probe on Jonathan"s administration