In the ongoing war against corruption, President Muhammadu Buhari will not spare anyone who has a case to answer, and his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, would face justice if guilty, presidential spokesman Femi Adesina, has said.
Adesina said on Thursday, when he visited PREMIUM TIMES’ office in Abuja that Buhari has “no accord” to shield any corrupt person from prosecution.
“There is no accord,” he said, “if the corruption fight needs to get there (making Mr. Jonathan face justice), it will get there.”
Several top officials who served under Jonathan, as well as his political associates in the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are currently being tried, or investigated by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for corruption.
A major case involves a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, accused of diverting $2.1 billion arms money and sharing it to politicians and cronies of the former president.
According to investigators, Dasuki said he was authorized by Jonathan to release the money for the nation’s security programmes, and for the 2015 presidential campaign.
The spokesman for PDP, Olisa Metuh, also said he received payment from Dasuki after carrying out some assignments for the former president.
Those claims have raised questions regarding whether Jonathan, whom Buhari assured during transfer of power in 2015, that he had nothing to fear, would face prosecution should it be proved that he has a case to answer.
Buhari has also been accused of bias against the PDP. That allegation gained traction last week after his associate and party member, Jafaru Isa, was released by EFCC despite facing what appeared a similar allegation as that against Metuh, the PDP spokesperson.
But Adesina denied the allegations against the President. “There is no accord that if corruption is proven, it will not be tried,” he said of the former president. “With this President, nobody will be protected. And I underscore it, if it needs to get anywhere, it will get there.”
He emphasized that there was no agreement prior to the March 2015 presidential election that Jonathan would not be made to face trial if corruption allegations were proved against him.
Adesina denied Buhari’s involvement in the release of Isa after the APC member reportedly returned N100 million out of N170 million he was accused of unlawfully receiving from Dasuki.
“If the President had wanted to protect him, he would not have been arrested in the first place,” Adesina said.
He said investigations into other sectors, such as banking and petroleum, would soon start.
-PREMIUM TIMES