There has been controversy over the statement credited to the presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari will only probe the immediate past administration under Goodluck Jonathan? Some are alleging it is attempt to witch-hunt the former president. What is your take on that?
Monday Onyekachi Ubani
I am not a spokesperson for president Buhari but I will make my comments in an objective manner. President Buhari has a right to choose who to probe and what to find out. And I have this impression that president Buhari actually had an understanding that some of the malfeasance of the former administration will be looked if they are not too nauseating. But from what I gathered, when the new government came in, the records were so bad that it will be a total disservice for the president not to look into the books. The records of the immediate past administration were so bad, especially considering the iniquitous manner with which they withdrew money from the treasury. It will be very immoral on the part of Buhari’s regime to overlook it. One of the reasons why people like us voted for Buhari was on the issue of fighting corruption and to make sure the impunity in the system is stopped. A lot of corruption took place under the last administration. If you travel abroad and hear how much is being stolen from the treasury and stashed abroad, government officials buying properties all over the place, private jets and so on, it will be very immoral for this government to close its eyes and refrain from probing the administration. As to probing other past regimes, including that of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, if in the process of probing Jonathan’s administration and other facts came up, I am sure there is no way Buhari will stop at that because he said even hi political party members will not be spared. But he must have a limit with which he will go with the probe because if he now says that he will probe all the past administrations, which may take him as far back as 1960 when Nigeria gained independence. I believe if former President Jonathan upon taking over the government and saw that there were some level of rot and fails to do what he is supposed to do, it is an indictment even on his own part. He owes Nigerians explanations for not even probing the previous administrations that he came after. And now he is now assigning the responsibility to Buhari to do that for him. That shows how weak he was and the fact that he was not supposed to have been the president. The collateral damage he has done to this country will take us many years to recover from. And so it does not lie in the mouth of Jonathan to tell Buhari whose government to probe.
MONDAY ONYEKACHI UBANI, a social crusader and public affairs analyst is a former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch.
Very good statements u altered sir!! Carry go
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