EKITI State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has carpeted President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim that many of those who looted the public treasuries in the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan had started returning the stolen funds to the government, saying the President should rather stay at home to govern the country instead of junketing around the globe and acting like a saint before the international community.
The governor challenged the President to tell Nigerians how much was returned and the looters who returned the stolen funds, adding “Since the purported looted funds belong to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it ought to have been paid into the Federation Account and shared by the Federal, State and Local Government.”
Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti that Governor Fayose advised President Buhari to tackle the collapsed economy of the country headlong instead of going from one country to another, casting aspersion on Nigerians with his sing-song of fighting corruption.
He said the President’s attitude was yet to change from that of 1984 when he was military Head of State, adding that; “Buhari’s statement in Tehran, Iran that it was easier for him as a military Head of State in 1984 to arrest corrupt individuals and put them in protective custody was a pointer to the fact that he has not changed from the dictator that he was then.
“The truth is that Buhari did not fight corruption in 1984. Rather, he persecuted great Nigerians, especially the likes Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Ambrose Ali, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Chief Bola Ige, who served the people meritoriously.
“Is Buhari justifying the imprisonment of Dr. Alex Ekwueme, who was only the Vice President or All Progressives Congress (APC) leader like Chief Bisi Akande, who only served as a Deputy Governor?”
While urging the President to stop acting like the sole-administrator of Nigeria and the only honest man among Nigerians, Governor Fayose said “Nigerians are desirous of concrete developments, not rhetoric about fight against corruption that is only being used to persecute perceived political enemies of the President both in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and within the APC.
“As at today, Nigerians are faced with serious hardship occasioned by prolonged fuel scarcity that the Federal Government does not have any solution to. Multi-national companies are laying-off thousands of workers while contractors working for the Federal Government have left their sites. Yet, what we get to hear from the President is noise in foreign lands about non-existing fight against corruption.
“Honestly, this President should get to work and stop lying to Nigerians and the international community.”