By Anthony Ogbo

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu
Buhari’s threats to probe governance
affairs of his predecessors has tumbled
into a boomeranging breadth, prompting
the General to personally send a plea
with apologies to the former President
and one of the targets of his proposed
probe, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,
International Guardian reliably
gathered. “I didn’t personally know what
was said or written, but to my
understanding, PMB was only trying to
diffuse rumors in the media about
Obasanjo being a target of his probe,” a
source close to Buhari’s administration
explained in a text message.

Chief Obasanjo was already gathering a
dossier which included documents
linking President Buhari and key allies
and colleagues in his administration to
major fraud related to various affairs of
the government, when he received
President Buhari’s “es·prit de corps” plea
for a common understanding and
restraint. To further appease the aged
former leader, President Buhari quickly
announced a retraction of his threats,
announcing publicly that he would not
extend his corruption probe beyond the
administration of former President
Goodluck Jonathan.

A worried President Buhari specifically
indicated through his Special Adviser on
Media and Public Affairs, Femi Adesina,
that he would not waste time in probing
the administrations of former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsalam
Abubakar, Sani Abacha, and Ibrahim
Babangida. The retraction nonetheless
created doubts among critics on the
president’s credibility in fighting
corruption as he initially swaggered.
President Buhari, it may be recalled, had
consistently vowed to investigate and
bring to book, all persons who looted the
country’s funds. Consequently, he made
a threat to arrest and prosecute past
ministers and other officials who stole
Nigeria’s oil and diverted government’s
money to personal accounts.

The President’s request for collaboration
with the United States, however,
prompted an alleged reaction by
President Obasanjo considered as one of
Nigeria’s most corrupt past leader by
most western countries. The United
States has indicated it would help
Nigeria’s new leader track down billions
of dollars in stolen assets – a move that
might expose previous fraudulent
engagements in the Obasanjo’s regime.
International Guardian gathered that
President Buhari’s backtrack from his
initial plans for a comprehensive probe
of public-fund misappropriation may
jeopardize Nigeria’s request to the
United States for collaboration on
tracing missing funds. The United States
government it was gathered, may not
oblige to selective investigation of
executive fraudsters and may not spare
Buhari himself. It may be recalled that as
the Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar was implicated by a US Grand
Jury which reports detailed his
fraudulent involvement with
Congressman, William Jefferson to
secure a business deal in Nigeria. On
August 5, 2009, Jefferson was found
guilty of 11 of the 16 corruption counts,
and was sentenced to 13 years on
November 13, 2009, the longest sentence
ever handed down to a congressman for
bribery.

From fraudulent privatization of state-
owned enterprises; filthy oil deals;
bribery associated with Halliburton,
Siemens, and Transcorp, rushed terminal
contracts, to personal loans for his farm
business, embezzlement of Excess Crude
Account, and Petroleum Trust
Development Fund (PTDF), Chief
Obasanjo’s regime has been considered
the most fraudulent in Nigeria’s history.
“For Buhari to claim that he would not
waste time digging into the far past,
simply signals a red flag about his
involvement in the whole thing,”
confided a source close to Washington.

Last week, International Guardian
reported how President Obasanjo was
the only one to rightly expose President
Buhari’s negative past records of public
accountability, revealing his readiness to
hit the blogs with documents that would
shock the nation. The story also narrated
how Buhari as the chairman of the
Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) between
1998-99, failed to account for a missing
25 billion naira, confiscating all related
documents and obstructing all
investigative channels. Buhari’s alleged
plea to Obasanjo, therefore, was timely.
“When it comes to being vindictive, you
know Baba does not waste time and
Buhari should have known better,” a
source close to the All Progressives
Congress (APC) told our newsroom.


www.thefocusng.com/buharis-hasty-withdrawal-from-probing-obasanjo-questions-his-credibility-on-fighting-corruption/

Last Days hasty withdrawal

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