Buhari under pressure to shelve naming treasury looters

An unusual pressure is learnt to have been
mounted on President Muhammadu Buhari by
internal and external forces to drop the idea of
publicly naming the names of alleged looters of
the national treasury and the amount each
individual had returned. There were, however,
indications that the details of the money
recovered so far could be made public today by
the Ministry of Information. This may go without
attaching a particular amount to any individual. It
will be recalled that President Buhari had on the
sideline of the Global Anti-Corruption Summit in
London recently promised to name the alleged
looters of the national treasuries on the
democracy day, May 29, 2016.

He said: “So far, what has come out, what has
been recovered in whatever currency from each
ministries, departments and individuals, I intend
on the 29th to speak on this because what
Nigerians are getting from the mass media are
the number of people arrested either by the
EFCC, DSS. But we want to make a
comprehensive report on the 29th.”

Asked whether the looters would be named, the
president said: “Yes, eventually, it has to be done
because we want to successfully prosecute them.
But you know you cannot go to the courts unless
you have documents for prosecution. “People
signed for these monies into their personal
accounts, their banks gave statements that the
money is there, when it came, how much and so
on.” But while making a national broadcast as
part of the activities to mark his first year in
office on May 29, the president did not announce
both the names and the details of the
recoveries. Instead, he passed the responsibility
to the Ministry of Information.

While the names were still being awaited this
weekend, strong indications emerged last night
that internal and external forces may have
prevailed on the president from publishing the
names. This was as two former presidents of the
country, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck
Jonathan visited President Buhari at the
presidential villa, Abuja.

Smart360news gathered that former
president Jonathan under whose watch the
country was alleged to have been seriously
looted visited president Buhari on Thursday
night. Jonathan who had been abroad but
returned to the country on Wednesday night,
quickly dashed out to the residence of the
president at about 9 pm for a meeting. Similarly,
former president Obasanjo at about 12:30pm
also paid a visit to the president at the State
House on Friday. Obasanjo, clad in a flowing
gown (babaringa) and driven in an SUV visited the
Villa in the company of Otumba Johnson Fasawe
at about 1pm.

His meeting with Buhari held behind closed
doors and the details were not made available to
the media. The former president declined
comments when he emerged from the
president’s office. Meanwhile, Obasa-njo’s visit
on Friday coincided with the visit of the some
Anglican Bishops to the president. The clerics
were led by the Archbishop of Abuja province,
Bishop Nicholas Okoh.

Okoh later told the Journalists that the rampant
killings attributed to the herdsmen and the
bombing and vandalization of the oil pipelines by
the Niger Delta Militants dominated their
discussion with the president. A dependabe
source who is also a chieftain of the ruling All
Progressives Congress, APC told Saturday
Smart360news in confidence that the government was
seriously considering its position on the
issue. He said that going public with the names
may jeopardize the efforts of the government at
recovering more funds as it would be difficult for
other suspects to come forward with their own
loots.

He however acknowle-dged that the govern-
ment, through the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC, the police and the
Department of State Services and other anti-
grant agencies had made tangible financial
recoveries. He also stated that a number of
other tangible assets in form of buildings had
been forfeited to the government. The source
praised the determination of the president
Buhari led government in carrying a holistic anti-
corruption war and cleansing of the system,
saying that the country was actually heading for
the worst as a few powerful individuals under
the previous government were bent on
allocating the national patrimony to themselves
if not for the election of the president.

“I can confirm it to you that the government is
seriously considering its position on mentioning
the looters. The reason may be that it would stop
others from coming out to return their stolen
assets. “Many of these people returned their
money in confidence. Some willingly did so. It
may not be good revealing their names since
they have cooperated. But I think the details of
the money recovered would be made public
either today or tomorrow”, the source said.