…As President says Apart from Abacha, other Heads of State have no love for Nigeria – Pres. Buhari***

Sacked Special Investigator to the Special Presidential Investigation Panel on Recovery of Public Property, Evang. Victor Uwajeh, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of bias in its anti-corruption crusade.

Uwajeh claimed he was sacked less than two months after his appointment because the administration had a mindset about who should be prosecuted at all costs.

In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, Uwajeh said he was specifically detailed to trace the assets of the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and many others.

The statement read: “It was the procedure of the panel to courier documents to me from Nigeria for dispatch to various agencies in the United Kingdom and worldwide. Soon after I realised that the panel had a mindset towards certain individuals and groups by the documents it sent to me.

“Documents sent to me from Abuja to dispatch to the Serious Fraud Office and Home Office, Metropolitan Police, FBI and EUROPOL had the names of the following senators: Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Sen. Albert Bassey Akpan and Sen. Stella Adaeze Oduah.

“I was also given a list which includes former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Femi Fani- Kayode, Sen. James Manager, Governor Nyesom Wike, Senator Jonah Jang, and Patience Jonathan, among others.

Meanwhile, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, yesterday, chided Uwajeh, for claiming that the federal government relieved him of his job because he refused to take on highly placed government ‘opponents’.

Malami said: “In the first place, the federal government of Nigeria did not even need the services of the suspect since we have a lot of institutions and personnel who can effectively handle such an assignment.

“Uwajeh suppressed the fact that he was a suspect standing trial apparently to impress the panel to engage him. This was unfortunate.

“But if Uwajeh wants to impress the world with the story he is now bearing, the fundamental question he should answer is whether indeed, he was being prosecuted by the office of the AGF for fraud, impersonation and forgery long before now.

“We cannot use a suspect of fraud to do investigation of those who have been accused of fraudulent activities. It would be wrong and unreasonable to do so.

“The investigator should also tell the world if he did at any time disclose to anyone on the panel before and after his engagement about the pendency of his forgery and fraud case in court.”

“So, the idea of leaving established institutions of government and law to engage a private investigator does not arise just as the disingenuous claim that he was disengaged because he refused to implicate certain persons does not hold water.’’

In the meantime, President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said those who mismanaged Nigeria’s economy in the past, through fraudulent electricity projects and misuse of revenue earnings from oil, had no love for the country.

‘‘One of the former Heads of State was bragging that he spent more than 15 billion dollars on power in Nigeria. Where is the power?’’ the President asked, without mentioning any name.

The president stated this when he received members of the Buhari Support Organisations (BSO) led by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Most of the electricity projects, President Buhari spoke about were awarded during the second term of the Obasanjo administration(2003 and 2007), and the result has only  been creeping into the national grid, to the extent that 11 years after, Nigeria is yet to enjoy stable power supply.

President Buhari urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and ensure that only ‘‘people of conscience are in-charge of governance at all levels’’ as the nation prepared for general elections in 2019.

‘‘One of the former Heads of State was bragging that he spent more than 15 billion dollars on power in Nigeria. Where is the power?’’ the President asked.

‘‘I challenge anybody to check from Europe, America and Asia; between 1999 and 2014, Nigeria was producing 2.1 million barrels of crude oil per day at an average cost of 100 dollars per barrel and it went up to 143 dollars.

‘‘When we came it collapsed to between 37 and 38 dollars and later was oscillating between 40 and 50 dollars.

‘‘I went to the CBN Governor, with my cap in my hand, and asked if we had savings. He told me we had only debts, no savings. Some of the roads were not repaired since the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) days.

‘‘I don’t care the opinion you have about Abacha but I agreed to work with him and we constructed roads from Abuja to Port Harcourt, Benin to Onitsha and so on. We also touched education and health institutions.

Although President Muhammadu Buhari did not directly mention the name of the former President he was talking about, the Olusegun Obasanjo administration has been repeatedly accused of spending up to $16bn on power with little to show for it.

On the mismanagement of the economy by previous administrations, President Buhari noted that the perpetrators lacked imagination and plans for the development of the nation.

‘‘Sometimes, I wonder about those who can afford to send their children abroad for studies and yet continue to sabotage the economy, I wonder what kind of Nigeria they want their children to return to and work. There is a lot of lack of imagination.

‘‘If you are working for the country, then you shouldn’t be misappropriating and misapplying public funds the way people did,’’ he said.

The President noted that under his watch, the 2016 and 2017 budgets recorded the highest appropriation and releases in capital projects, with over N2.8 trillion disbursements in two years.

The President urged Nigerians to reject those bent on dividing the country along religious and ethnic lines, warning that “they do not mean well for the country.

‘‘I have said severally that we do not have any other country than Nigeria and we will remain here and salvage it together.

‘‘We have nothing to regret. Absolutely nothing. God has given Nigeria everything. We are rich in human and material resources. Let us keep on praying to God to put people of conscience in-charge at all levels.’’

The Citizen