Buhari not clean on PTF-PDP

By Ahmed Abubakar

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation yesterday disagreed with the clean bill of health given to General Muhammadu Buhari by former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the N25 billion-fraud that took place in the administration of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) by Buhari as executive chairman.

The Campaign Organisation, in a statement in which it subtly queried the health status of General Buhari, said that by saying that there was nothing amiss in the financial transactions in the PTF; Obasanjo was only trying to cover up the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, reads: “We believe that one of the cardinal principles of democracy, good governance and decency is to always set the record straight and let the Nigerian people know the truth.

“We do not believe that anything ought to be hidden and we believe that in the contest for the Presidency the record of public office of each and every one of the presidential candidates is relevant and must be subjected to scrutiny and public debate” he stated.

“It is to this end that we make reference to the findings of the Dr Haroun Adamu-led Interim Management Committee probe of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) where General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC, presided as executive Chairman for a number of years while General Sani Abacha was in power.

“The final report of that probe exposed nothing but monumental sleaze and the most pervasive and insidious type of corruption in PTF while General Buhari held sway there. The report concluded its findings by recommending that the PTF under General Buhari and his entire team be asked to explain the circumstances in which N25, 758,532,448:00 disappeared and could not be accounted for. As the chief executive officer of PTF at the time Buhari, and no one else, must be held responsible for this.

“The fact that the recommendation of the Dr Haroun Adamu-led Interim Management Committee was never acted upon by the Olusegun Obasanjo government is rather curious and gives us some cause for concern. This is especially so given the fact that the same General Buhari that was so badly indicted by the report is now vying for the exalted office of President of Nigeria.

“This is made all the more worrisome given the fact that the Army General has consistently held himself out as Mr. Integrity while he consistently accuses President Goodluck Jonathan of monumental corruption. The truth is that not only has the PTF report put a lie to the suggestion that General Buhari is ‘’Mr. Clean’’ but it has also indicated that he has a case to answer” Fani Kayode added.