Politics

Blame yourself for anti-graft war failure – Atiku tells Buhari

Published

6 years ago

December 27, 2018

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday blamed President Muhammadu for the perceived failure of the anti – corruption war in the country .Buhari had blamed the inability of his government to effectively fight corruption on the Nigerian system .

Atiku in a statement commended Buhari for admitting that he had not succeeded in fighting corruption .

The former Vice – President however disagreed with Buhari that the system was to be blamed for his government’ s inability stop corruption in the country .

Atiku admitted that the system had challenges , but said with political will , the system could make progress .

He said when he was the VP from 1999 to 2007 , the Obasanjo administration used the same system to speedily convict the former Inspector – General of Police Mr Tafa Balogun and other public officials .

Atiku said , “ Mr President , the problem with your anti – corruption war is not the system . You are the problem . The system allows you to arrest , try and convict your former Secretary to the Government of the Federation ( Lawal Babachir ) , who was fingered in a major corruption case , but you chose to let him go scot – free and you demonstrated your tolerance for corruption by giving him a prominent role in your re – election campaign and recently welcoming him to the Presidential Villa with open arms .

“ The system allows you to arrest , try and convict Abdulrasheed Maina, who is suspected to have looted the pensions of millions of Nigerians . Yet you chose not to go that route , preferring instead to recall him , reinstate and double promote him .

“ The system allows you to probe the $ 25 bn NNPC contracts awarded without due process , but you chose to bury the matter under the carpet , hoping Nigerians will forget about thatk alleged grand scale looting exposed by a leaked memo from a member of your cabinet . ”