Adeosun certificate scandal: Atiku tackles Buhari

Presidential aspirant under the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of protecting the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun over the NYSC certificate forgery saga.

Recall that an online news platform had accused the minister of forging an exemption certificate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) having failed to attend the one year compulsory service as demanded by the law.

Speaking on the issue on Thursday, Media Adviser to Atiku, Paul Ibe in a statement issued on behalf of Atiku said it was curious that President Muhammadu Buhari is deemed uncompromising while Kemi Adeosun, accused of certificate forgery, remains minister of finance.

“If President Buhari is ‘uncompromising in cleaning the rot Nigeria was consigned into pre -2015’ then how come the latest Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International reveals that Nigeria is more corrupt today than she was in 2015, having moved 12 steps backwards in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, moving from 136 in 2014 under the PDP to 148 today?,” the statement read.

“It is only common sense that if the price of petrol increased by 68% from ₦87 per litre to ₦145, then the cost of fuel subsidy should also reduce, especially as the price of crude oil also reduced.

“However, by some strange mathematics, the Buhari administration pays a whopping ₦1.4 trillion on subsidy per annum according to the minister of state for petroleum. This amount is almost twice what the Jonathan administration paid and yet President Buhari accused that administration of scamming the nation.

“Where is the transparency in that? No wonder the minister of state for petroleum resources revealed in a leaked memo that $25 billion worth of contracts were awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation under the watch of the supervising minister of petroleum, President Muhammadu Buhari.

Commenting on the issue of Buhari being allegedly power drunk, Ibe said the president is a witness against himself.

“It goes without saying that a president who publicly boasted that the rule of law can be suppressed against certain individuals is not only power drunk, but dictatorial,” he said.

Meanwhile, Femi Adesina, the president’s spokesman, said his principal is uncompromising in the quest to restore probity and accountability to public office.

“He is uncompromising in cleaning the rot Nigeria was consigned into pre -2015, thus the war against corruption is being fought without fear or favour,” Adesina said.