Questions Reuters, Aljazeera, the Economist, AP, others ask Lai about Atiku, PDP

Information Minister Lai Mohammed has explained how he was questioned by international media organisations he engaged with recently on the irony of the Buhari administration’s anti-corruption effort, and the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the PDP.

He said this happened in London during three days of engagements with major media networks and think tanks.

Giving a wrap up of the engagements on Saturday in London, the minister said the media houses he visited raised questions as to why Mr Abubakar could emerge as presidential candidate, considering the anti-corruption stance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Among the international media outlets the minister engaged with were Reuters, Aljazeera, the Economist, AP, New African, African Business and African Review Magazines.

“They asked me: How can you claim to have succeeded in waging war against corruption, when one of the major contestants in the 2019 general elections is actually a man with stupendous wealth but cannot explain the source of his wealth?

“That baffled me a lot, because it means that we are still being perceived as a country where corruption thrives.

“It was difficult for me to explain to them that yes, we are fighting corruption but these are the same people who have put this country where we are today and who are also trying to come back to power.”

The minister said he assured the media organisations that “this will however define the task of choice for Nigerians”.

“The choice for Nigerians today is either they go back to the corrupt past where our commonwealth was shared by a few elites or move forward and continue with this new trajectory where the national resources are used for the benefit of all Nigerians,” he said.

“I explained to them that the 2019 elections have been defined, and the choice have been made easy.

“We are sure that Nigerians will choose rightly”.

The minister was on tour in the UK, and he delivered a lecture at the Chattam House where he also engaged with others, including Nigerians in the Diaspora.