Ex-President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that the manner his administration tackled corruption was unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.
To underscore this claim, the immediate past president of Nigeria said he received recognition for this feat as the African Continental Anti-Corruption Champion by the African Union, AU.
Buhari was responding to the allegation by Mohammed Adoke, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, AGF that his administration mismanaged the case resulting from a deal signed between Process & Industrial Developments, P&ID, and Nigeria for the Ajaokuta steel company.
Adoke had accused Abubakar Malami, the immediate past AGF and the federal government of giving false evidence before the English Court that is handling the $9.6billion judgement debt case between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Process and P&ID.
Reacting to the allegation, Garba Shehu, a spokesman for President Buhari said his administration did all in its part to save the country from graft which could have led the country to total economic collapse.
Shehu made this known in a statement he issued on Sunday.
According to him, the Buhari administration inherited the case from the Jonathan administration under which Adoke served and did everything to stop the execution of the $10 billion judgment debt liability against Nigeria.
The statement read in part: “The logical conclusion any reasonable person can draw on P&ID, Paris Club, and Ajaokuta is that President Buhari came on a rescue mission and effectively saved Nigeria from corrupt undertones that were planted to expose its economy to imminent collapse. The success of the Buhari administration in the fight against corruption is unprecedented.
“New legislation was introduced, major recoveries were made at home, stolen monies were repatriated from abroad, and they were judiciously deployed in infrastructure development. High-profile convictions were recorded in unprecedented numbers, with enhanced percentages over and above the records in existence.
“It is in international recognition of these efforts that the African Union chose the former President as its African Continental Anti-Corruption Champion. Additional recognitions by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Corruption (UNODC), among others, were also lauded by the former president and his administration.
“Adokie also made some wild allegations in the aviation sector. The efforts of the Buhari administration in aviation are known: They were visible in terms of capital infrastructure development, safety, and policy; they changed the face of the aviation sector into an attractive one for investment, resulting in new airlines coming on board. No major commercial airline incident was recorded throughout this period.”
“All Nigerians, by right, can say whatever they want about the Buhari administration. No one is offended by their actions, right or wrong. But when you come out with innuendos of corruption written all over your face and say that you want to moralise and pontificate, Nigerians in different walks of life will have problems with that.”
Despite his claim of fighting corruption, not a few Nigerians insist that official corruption thrived under Buhari’s administration.
Under his watch, a former Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris stole N109 billion, a case that has been regarded as one of the highest single heists by a government official.
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