Extend your probes beyond Jonathan administration, CSJ tells Buhari

A pressure group, the Centre for Social Justice, CSJ, yesterday, requested the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to extend its corruption probe beyond the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan into past governments.

The Lead Director of CSJ, Eze Oyekpere, who spoke in reaction to reports that President Buhari will limit his probe to the past administration, argued that it would be unfair to streamline corruption probes to only officials in the Jonathan government.

Speaking on the sidelines of media briefing organized to reveal the outcome of the fiscal governance tribunals, the legal practitioner insisted that there were some unscrupulous deals conducted by previous governments that were still fresh in the minds of Nigerians.

According to him, “I take a holistic view about recovering public properties that were stolen and mismanaged. For instance, the Halliburton issue, the Siemens scandal did not just come up under the last administration. And those things are too recent for us to forget them. So I believe that he (Buhari) shouldn’t simply draw a line and say it is going to be from 2011 or from 2010, no.

“He should go back a little bit, even the power scandal that involves an expenditure of over $15bn where we can’t see the results up till today. He should go back a little bit, it shouldn’t be about Jonathan’s administration viz-a-viz PDP, APC, no. It should have been about our national interest and some of these issues are too recent in our memories for us to sweep them under the carpet.”

DAILY POST recalls that former President Goodluck Jonathan had at the valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council in May, stated that those who were calling for the probe of his government should ensure that such probes were extended beyond his administration. He stressed that doing otherwise would amount to witch hunting.

But speaking late last month, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Femi Adesina, revealed that his principal will limit his anti-corruption war to the immediate past administration in the country, explaining that Buhari would not waste time in probing past governments of Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsalam Abubakar, Sani Abacha and Ibrahim Babangida.

In the words of Adesina, “If you recall, that was already settled before he got inaugurated as president. He has said he will not waste time digging into the far past”.