₦airaland Forum

President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption is
drawing support from unexpected quarters – the
opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A senior member of the party and two-time
governor of the defunct Bendel State, Dr. Samuel
Ogbemudia, tells Buhari to jail those who may be
indicted on the looting of the treasury under the
regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ogbemudia’s statement came on the heels of the
President’s claim, last week, that his
administration had uncovered some of the banks
in which the treasury looters stashed the stolen
funds.
Effort to recover the funds was a key leg of
Buhari’s recent visit to the United States (US)
where he met President Barack Obama and senior
American officials to solicit their cooperation, and
told his guests that about $150 billion had been
stolen from Nigeria over the last four years,
especially from the oil industry where
transparency is significantly lacking.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, who
was on the US trip, followed it up, quoting an
unnamed official of the American government as
saying a minister under the Jonathan
administration stole $6 billion.
“All the information we read in the papers, if it is
correct that some people looted the treasury
under Jonathan, then they should be brought to
book. If they are convicted, they will, certainly, go
to jail”, Ogbemudia, also a retired army general,
told Sunday Vanguard in an interview.
But he had a caveat: All the allegations of
corruption against the Jonathan administration
officials should be properly investigated, to ensure
the innocent is not unduly labeled a thief.
The PDP leader also spoke on the search for
Oshiomhole’s successor, the National Assembly
crisis and the war against Boko Haram, among
other issues. Excerpts:
How is the Edo Mass Movement you launched to
search for a credible successor to Gov.
Oshiomhole doing?
Edo Mass Movement is in top form, it is in every
ward, local government and senatorial district in
the state. At the appropriate time, Edo Mass
Movement will show what it is capable of doing
at the 2016 gubernatorial election. We did say the
other time that we will support any party that has
a good candidate. And if a party produces a
candidate that does not meet our standard, we
will look elsewhere for a credible one.
What we are going to do is that once a political
party comes up with its own candidate, we will
invite the candidate for a chat, but if in his
wisdom he thinks he does not need us, no
problem. If he comes, we will interview him and
see what he is capable of doing, ensure that he
has a good background, that he will not let the
people down. This is because we don’t want
anybody that comes after Oshiomhole to mess up
the state. The media should help us make sure
that when political parties are deciding their
candidates, they should take into consideration
some of the issues we have raised.
Are you looking at the issue of zoning of the
governorship to a particular district?
We will not be zoning , we will only interview
those that are available. The party has the
responsibility of zoning, not EMM because we
don’t have the mandate. For example, if ten
people come to us and say they are interested in
the governorship, we will sit down and chat; at
the end of it all, we will make recommendation to
the executive of EMM.
But, are you still a member of the PDP?
Yes I am.


Supposing you find a credible candidate, may be
from APGA or APC, will your group endorse that
person as the candidate?
If I find any credible candidate from any party, I
will recommend to the executive of EMM to
inform the people, our supporters and members
to assist that party.
But, won’t your party accuse you of anti-party?
Well, we have not defined yet what is anti-party
activity; once we define it, I will limit myself to it.
The definition has not been brought to my
knowledge.
What kind of governor are you searching for?
A remarkable man, a man who thinks of others,
just like the current governor, Oshiomhole. One
who sees himself as a servant and is prepared to
justify his election.
But there is this fear in some quarters that this
group may be hijacked by rich guber aspirants?
(Laughter) It is not impossible but it is going to
be difficult. I alone don’t make up EMM but we
will ensure that does not happen. Now that
everybody knows that votes count, they have to
defend their votes and give it to whoever they
think will appreciate it and will do exactly what
he says he is going to do.
Do you have any arrangement with the governor
on this issue?
The governor is the leader of this state and,
therefore, we will do nothing that will upset his
own plans. So we will continue to keep in touch
with him.
So what are your expectations in the 2016 guber
race in Edo?
We want the election of next year to set a good
example on how a state can conduct election
without leaving emotional scars. Everybody has to
ensure towards peace and we want a transparent
election; we don’t want interference from outside,
those who are not supposed to take part should
not be involved.
We are aware that your party, the PDP, has zoned
their guber ticket to Edo South. We also learnt
the APC is doing same thing. How will the EMM
come into this situation?
If it is true that the PDP zoned the governorship
to Edo South and APC is likely to do same thing,
the job of EMM is to see which of the two can
represent the interest of the state better, then we
will support it. If those two are not satisfactory,
then we will put up our own candidate, using
another political party.
Many people have accused President Buhari’s
administration of being slow. Do you feel the
same way?
My impression is that those who are saying it
have my sympathy because they have never run
government before. If they had been in
government, they would have known how difficult
it is to put together a sincere administration.
Buhari is laying the foundation for a good take
off. I know he has not appointed Ministers but
Ministers are meant to help the President and, if
the President wants to appoint a Minister, he
does that for specific purpose. Those blaming
him are aware that he said he was going to
reduce the Ministries, he has to reduce them first
and look for technocrats who can deliver the
goods for him. So this issue that he is slow is
rubbish because, tomorrow, if he fails to perform,
the same people will blame him. And I know
Buhari, he cannot afford to fail Nigerians; so let’s
give him a chance.
Some of the Ministers who served under the
administration of President Goodluck Jonathan
have been accused of looting the treasury. Are
you comfortable with that, being a leader of the
former ruling party?
All the information we read in the papers, if it is
correct that some people looted the national
treasury under Jonathan, then they should be
brought to book. If they are convicted they will
certainly, go to jail. But you cannot do that unless
you investigate properly; so the Buhari regime
should spend time to investigate and not to
announce first that a man is a thief only to find
out that he is not guilty.
That will not help. Jonathan once described
bribery and corruption as petty thief; if that is the
new definition, let us see. This is the first time
APC is in government; therefore, all the theories
that they have been propounding along the line,
this is the time to test them and it will take them
time to assemble sufficient evidence of their
genuine readiness to govern. I give them one year
to prepare and three years to execute. If at the
end of four years they encourage the PDP to come
back, that will be good.
The EFCC suddenly started biting and we also
heard that our refineries will soon start operating
in full capacity. How come all these started
happening during Buhari’s administration?
Every society, the way the people behave is the
evidence of the type of leadership it has. It is a
reflection of the quality of the leadership in that
nation. If under the last government, the EFCC did
not have sufficient urge to act, then we should
know why. Now, no body is urging them on and
they are working. I think they will continue to do
so until somebody stops them. We are waiting for
evidence amid all the rumours; we are waiting to
hear that so so person who stole N10billion, is in
custody or he has returned N9billion. It is not
sufficient to suspect, you must have concrete
evidence because, for too long, people have been
suspected and called bad names when in fact
they didn’t know anything about what they were
being accused of.
Do you approve of the calibre of the Service
Chiefs appointed by the President will end Boko
Haram and his strategies to fight insurgency?
The sequence of events that have taken place
since they started is the right step in the right
direction. But our prayer is that the officers
assigned to be fighting should have sufficient
pressure and sufficient understanding to be able
to pursue the objective. Fighting Boko Haram is
not a war; if it were a war, all you need to do is
to drop bombs all over the place, but that is not
allowed; so you have to go in and fetch the
individuals out and deal with them. But what is
more important is the job of the intelligence unit,
the operatives; they should go out and identify
the man who is supplying arms to Boko Haram.
The Boko Haram people are using weapons, arms
and ammunition and they waste the ammunition
and replace them after they fire. So they must be
buying it from somebody. Which bank is opening
the LPO for them or Letter of Credit, or which
port are they discharging the arms, or to which
airport is the plane bringing the ammunition land.
The intelligent unit should find out all these and,
once they find the man who is paying the boys,
who is supplying the arms, then the war will be
over. But if they allow the man to be hiding,
resting, then we are in trouble.
There is also this information that when the Boko
Haram boys have worked till the end of the
month, the leaders organize them to be shot so
that they will not get salaries. The person
sponsoring these people is a human being, he is a
Nigerian, he will be found. If the person is not
found, when the source of the fund is exhausted,
there will be nothing left.
How optimistic are you that the Chibok girls will
be found?
I am very skeptical about that, but if they are
found, they will never be the same again. A lot of
transformation may have taken place. Some
people also alleged that they could have turned
them to suicide bombers, but it depends on the
orientation. What people call suicide bombers is
this: they hire a girl and wrap her with bombs and
tell her to walk towards a particular place. They
will not tell the girl she will die. The man who
will detonate that bomb will be monitoring the
girl, when he feels she has gotten to the centre of
the crowd, then he detonates the bomb. The little
girl does not know what they want her to do until
she goes into flames. The people involved in such
operations are the ones our intelligence people
should be looking for.
They are easy to reach if they go round Burukutu
bars and restaurants; such people, when they are
drunk, they will start vomiting things to people;
that is how we used to arrest such people. I
believe that our troops need to work harder, not
necessarily fighting, but on intelligence. Girls are
better in collecting such information. I know the
army has its own intelligence, but the Department
of State Security is the one saddled with this
responsibility to fish out people planting bombs
through information. The army does only military
intelligence, but the DSS deals more with civilians
who are perpetrating this evil.
What is your take on the lingering leadership
crisis in the Senate? The House of Reps has been
able to resolve its own, but that of the Senate is
still there. What is the way forward?
First, I believe that the way they make their bed is
how they will sleep on it. A political party of
substance gives instructions to its members.
Many years back, many people who were picked
to contest elections where made to sign undated
resignation letter; so if they misbehave, you just
date it.
By the time they start explaining that it was not
yesterday they signed it, it is already too late.
Because political parties don’t do it that way,
then these people have the right to do what they
like. They think they are supposed to be
independent of the executive and the judiciary, but
then the party which put them forward to contest
the election must have a say on what they do. So
it is wrong for the National Assembly members to
think they are completely independent of the
political parties that brought them in. In NPN
days, I was a member and they put me forward to
contest election.
On a D-Day, the Chairman of the party called me
to his office and gave me a run down of what I
was going to meet and that these are the
instructions of the party. The Commissioners,
these are what they should do, the Permanent
Secretaries, do this and so on.
And I looked at it and said there was no problem.
I signed it. When we won, I was reminded that
this is what I should be doing and I kept to the
instruction, there was no argument. But maybe if
I had on that occasion started selecting people on
my own, maybe the party would have called me
to order. Then everybody respected the Chairman
of the party, his words were regarded as the law.
So I think the APC leadership should meet more
regularly, allow the status quo right now to
remain with some modifications. And the party
should re-organize itself and get every member of
the National Assembly under the APC to sign a
document that they will obey the instructions of
the party. Whoever says he will not do it, expel
him immediately.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/buhari-will-jail-jonathan-regime-looters-ogbemudia/

These are people that reason above partisanship, not all those dingbats blinded by tribalism.

ok

Nobody is above the law.Dnt expect to be treat with kid gloves.Let those irresponsible thieves return their loot and enjoy peace of mind.No hidden place for thieves

you can even take them to bar beach.
but first you have to prove they stole a kobo.
before a high court of justice.

Ogbemudia belongs to the same generation with Buhari, Babangida, Obasnjo, Danjuma, Abubakar and co. . That very useless, unproductively retar.ded generation that is totally rezponsible for turning a genertion out of the way and ruining our today. The best thing they can do for this country today is to collectively drop dead! But they have refused to die. Evils! The only reason they want jonathan hounded down is because he doesn't belong to this haughty club of empty heads who straddle around as if they own the rest of us simply because they fought and somehow consider themselves winners in a lopsided war. Otherwise, howow can the corrupt fight corruption?? Why not sttart from 1999? 1970? Or even 1966? Where they not the same people that led the foundation for kleptomania in this country?

okay

Buhari is not a law court and cannot jail anyone.He can only prosecute

Will done full dis administration

Buhari might not get anyone jailed for corruption. A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces!

Ok

On

owobokiri:
Ogbemudia belongs to the same generation with Buhari, Babangida, Obasnjo, Danjuma, Abubakar and co. . That very useless, unproductively retar.ded generation that is totally rezponsible for turning a genertion out of the way and ruining our today. The best thing they can do for this country today is to collectively drop dead! But they have refused to die. Evils! The only reason they want jonathan hounded down is because he doesn't belong to this haughty club of empty heads who straddle around as if they own the rest of us simply because they fought and somehow consider themselves winners in a lopsided war. Otherwise, howow can the corrupt fight corruption?? Why not sttart from 1999? 1970? Or even 1966? Where they not the same people that led the foundation for kleptomania in this country?

Well said
I laugh when all these ignorant youths think it's their vote that kept buhari there