President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday explained why he “dealt” with the former Chief Justice of the Federation CJN , Walter Onnoghen, saying that government found “millions of dollars, Euros” in his undeclared accounts
The President who stated this when he received the leadership of the Pan-Yoruba sociocultural group, Afenifere, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said “I had to deal though reluctantly with the former Chief Justice, because there were millions of dollars, euros not to talk of naira which were not declared.”
The President who was speaking on the challenges facing the country, hinged most of the challenges on corruption and poor management of the country’s resources
“Again, I don’t mind repeating myself even though I sound like a broken record, as a military head of state, I took everyone to prison and pronounced them guilty until they can prove themselves innocent.
We put tribunals in all geo-political zones and they investigated those who were in charge of government money and took all of them in prison until they explained what happened to government’s money.
“Even I was detained. This is Nigeria. That was why I decided to put on agbada and see,” he said.
Explaining the current approach to the fight against corruption, Buhari said “what I do is, when a person cannot justify what he has or fails to declare as the constitution specifies, some of them swear to almighty God that their property doesn’t belong to them until we show them their bank accounts and their companies then we have some peace,” Buhari added.
“I wonder what sort of conscience some of us have. How can you sit and preside and lock people up for years and even l sentenced some to death and yet you are not doing what the Constitution said you should do by occupying that vital institution,” he said.
On the issue of insecurity, the President lamented the insecurity in different parts of the country, stating that although his administration made some progress, “there are still some problems and those problems we are trying to solve them within our physical and material resources.”
The Afenifere group led by Pa Ayo Fasanmi and the National leader of the All Progressive Congress APC, Bola Tinubu, had appealed to President Buhari to tackle the challenges of insecurity, education, youth employment and power supply.
The demands of the Afenifere leaders were read by Olabiyi Durojaiye
He said: “We seriously recommend clinging to the spirit and letters of our federal constitution. This is one sure way of achieving the desired goals of unity even in diversity, mutual respect, tolerance and giving true meaning to the opening phrase of our constitution that is, “ we the people.”
“We will be a greater nation if we sincerely practice true federalism, think and act as Nigerians rather than as champions of the smaller units we were born into. Our big size is an asset worthy of preservation.
“Good examples of big size, hard work and prudent spending are the USA, China and India. It is not with violence or hate speeches but with mutual trust, self-respect and tolerance that we will speedily achieve the lofty destiny of the great country, Nigeria,” he said.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
