He described claim by the federal
government that the probe panel only looked into procurement and
contracts awarded by the military between 2011-2015 because documents
regarding procurement from 2007 to 2010 were not available as a clear
indication of his support for corruption.
In a statement issued on Sunday, July
17, 2916 by his special assistant on public communications and new
media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said “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.”
The governor said it smacked of sheer
hypocrisy and nepotism for anyone to accept that fraud could have been
perpetrated on procurement and award of contracts in an establishment
without the involvement of the director of procurement.
“There are many petitions relating to
the defence from 2007 that are been 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,” he said.
He said; “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
Procurements, 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
Presidential Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement from
2007 to 2015.’
“First paragraph of the committee report
also indicated that it used 2007-2015 as reference, stating that the
committee ‘analysed procurement contracts awarded by or for the Nigerian
Army between 2007 and 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?
“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.
“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.
“The international community must
therefore prevail on President Buhari to stop acting like the
grandfather of corruption in Nigeria by making the anti-corruption war
all-inclusive instead of this clear persecution of his perceived
political enemies, and the first step to demonstrate that will be the
immediate release of report of the Presidential Committee on Audit of
Defence Equipment Procurement covering 2007 to 2015.”
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