Bukola Saraki, Senate President, has said Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s President, has no integrity.
Mr Saraki stated this on Wednesday while featuring in an interview aired on Channels Television.
The
top lawmaker not only said the president is not honest, he also
described the administration of the Nigerian leader as corrupt.
The
Senate President said Mr Buhari lacks integrity because he condone and
shield his cronies and allies who are perceived to be corrupt from
prosecution.
“There is no doubt that there are corrupt people
around the system. If the President is fighting corruption truly, I am
baffled how a member of his government who was found wanting, up till
today, no charge, no prosecution,” Saraki said.
“To me, once you
can do that, you lose integrity, the moral high ground to say you are
fighting corruption. You must show that nobody is above the law, you
must show that no matter how close anybody is to you that you’ll take
action and that’s not happening.
“Based on the action I’ve seen,
yes his government is corrupt if you are not taking action when people
are corrupt. Why condoning it?
“It will be right to say the
government of Buhari is corrupt. If you are the head of a government,
you take responsibility. So, anything that is done by a government that
is corrupt and action is not being taken by the head of that, then the
government is corrupt,” he said.
Saraki who defected from the APC last year said the government of the president is incompetent.
“A
government comes into power and says I will create jobs. Instead of
creating it has lost jobs up to 20 million. It now blames it on the
government of 16 years ago. No. You came into government, you said this
is what I promise and you did not deliver. To now blame that on a
government that was there before is no excuse. If you cannot create new
jobs, at least sustain the existing ones.”
He also talked about
fuel subsidy controversy under the present administration to further
characterise the Buhari administration as corrupt.
“In 2015, one
of the areas we labelled the Jonathan government of corruption was the
issue of fuel subsidy scam. One of the major issues that came up then
was that we were importing fuel based on our assumption of 30 million
consumption daily and all experts will tell you that Nigeria cannot
consume maximum 22 million litres per day.
“At that time, we said
the Jonathan government was corrupt. You will then think that a
government that was to fight corruption, different leakages will ensure
that the subsidy is better managed.
“Instead of bringing down the
30 million, the government is doing 50 million. We cannot consume 50
million litres per day. It is those money being stolen.
“I said
it last year that you must bring subsidy into the budget. NNPC convinced
the President to say it is not subsidy but under-recovery. It is not
subsidy. What is under-recovery? Finally, in 2019 the president decided
to bring it. He should have done that all along,” he said.
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