Jonathan: Ex-Ministers Warn Buhari

L-R: Deputy General Manager, Consumer Affairs, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Mr Imamuddeen Talba, General Manager, Finance and Management Services, Mr Mustapha Bukar, Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs, Dr Usman Abba-Arabi, and Deputy General Manager, Enforcement Unit, Mr Chijioke Obi, at a public consultation of the commission’s draft regulations on feed in tariff, smart metering and capping on estimated billing in Abuja, recently.

Ministers, who served under former President Goodluck Jonathan have told President Muhammadu Buhari to stop unwarranted attacks on the former president.
They have also asked Buhari to show respect to Jonathan in his actions and utterances as a former president of Nigeria, who paved the way for his emergence.
The ministers made the call in a joint statement released in Abuja yesterday.
The former ministers maintained that it was wrong for the Buhari administration to cast aspersion on Jonathan and the ministers who worked under him, deliberately discrediting the monumental achievements and the innovative measures it adopted to tackle corruption in the country.
The former officials in a joint statement released in Abuja on Sunday and signed by former National Planning Minister, Dr Abubakar O. Suleiman pointed out that while Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress had the right to chart their path, they considered the vilification of the Jonathan’s administration as ill-intentioned, unduly partisan, and in bad faith.
They said it was also wrong for the new administration to portray each and every member of the Jonathan administration as corrupt and irresponsible.
The former ministers who boasted that they served Nigeria diligently and to the best of their ability, pointed out that the results of their sweat was what Nigerians were enjoying under the Buhari administration and should be so applauded rather than being vilified.
They insisted that contrary to the claim by the APC, Jonathan did not encourage corruption but rather devised means and measures to stamp out corruption within the context of the rule of law.
While calling on Buhari to carry out the probe of whoever he wants to probe, the ministers advised that such inquiry must however follow due process and respect for human rights.
The statement said: “We, the ministers who served under the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration, have watched with increasing alarm and concern the concerted effort by the Buhari administration and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to condemn, ridicule and undermine the efforts of that administration, in addition to impugning the integrity of its individual members.
But in a swift reaction, the presidency yesterday responded to the ex-ministers’ allegations, saying that President Buhari has highest regards for former presidents.
In a statement, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said the president also has the highest regard and respect or former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), on Sunday, took a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari, for his decision to restrict the period covered by the ongoing corruption probe to 2007.
In a statement by its President, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, the IYC, said President Buhari’s decision seemed to create the impression that he is shielding his friends and associates from the investigation.
It added that the decision would only portray the President as someone who lacked courage to revisit the big corruption scandals that took place between 1999 and 2007, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo ruled the country.
Eradiri challenged the President to either extend the probe to 1960, when the country became an independent nation, or at best, 1999, when the country returned to democracy after years of military rule, to revisit some of the corruption scandals in the country.
He stressed that a genuine probe should indeed concentrate on the Obasanjo administration, which failed to procure arms and ammunition for the military in spite of huge budgetary allocations to the defence sector.
The IYC leader said the President’s probe would have made more sense if it had included the eight years of the Obasanjo administration rather than announcing the probe of the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
He noted that the Boko Haram insurgency would have been nipped in the bud if the government in power then, had equipped the military to carry out their statutory responsibility of securing the country.
He cautioned that the plan to avoid probing the Obasanjo administration would send out the wrong signal that the probe was designed to protect some of the people, who committed grave economic crimes against the country, which should be of concern to him.
Eradiri added, “We find it pertinent to react to recent media reports that our dear President, Muhammadu Buhari, has ordered a probe of weapon procurement for the military from 2007 to date.
“While we are not against any effort of the President to investigate previous administrations and indeed take steps against the scourge of corruption in the society, we hereby state without equivocation that the period covered by this probe is suspect.
“It would have made a lot of sense for somebody, who is genuinely interested in revisiting alleged cases of malfeasance, which had held our nation back, to either commence such an investigation from 1960 when the country became independent or from 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy after years of military dictatorship.
“We hold that this is unfair and that the tenure of Chief Obasanjo is being exempted because of the role he played in Buhari emergence as President.
“In fact, if there is somebody that should be probed, it should be Chief Obasanjo, who lacked foresight and failed in the critical job to adequately arm our military, in spite of the huge funds appropriated for defence under him. If he had done so, the menace of Boko Haram would have long been dealt with in the early stages. It took the administration of Goodluck Jonathan to buy the weapons we need.”