National chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Chief Olu Falae has slated the anti-graft war of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Falae has recently been linked to the $2.1bn earmarked for the purchase of arms but which was diverted by former NSA Sambo Dasuki to serve political motives.

Falae’s party received N100m from #DasukiGate but he insists he did nothing wrong for receiving the money.

“There is nothing legally or morally wrong. It is a two-party cooperation, normal; when there is such a collaboration, the participating parties contribute money to actualize the objective”, Falae told Vanguard.

“We did it in 2007 when we adopted General Buhari: ANPP, DPA and other parties, there was nothing absolutely wrong with this. We did not go to Dasuki for money, it was PDP that sent us the money; for the PDP to decide where to get their money was not our business.

“The PDP sent us the money, I sent the money to the party; the party said they got it in full and it was used for the purpose it was meant, which was the elections. So anybody that is raising issues is merely trying to start a smear-campaign, but I am totally at peace with myself because my conscience is absolutely clear. Indeed, I am proud of my track record and my performance even in this state.

“I want to say with all emphasis that I never took even one naira from Dasuki. Beyond that, I want to assert that I never had any relationship with Dasuki. I knew Dasuki way back in 1986-87,when he was ADC to General Babagida and I was Secretary to the Federal Government. Since he left that government around 1987, I had no contact or dealing with him; absolutely none”.

Falae said he is being framed up in an anti-corruption war that is now targeting certain persons.

“Up to this moment, EFCC has not got in touch with me about this matter because they know the truth, that I did not take money from Dasuki; it was PDP that sent money to SDP through me and the money was delivered to SDP. Legitimate, normal and non-controversial.

“That tells you that there is a smear campaign going on. Some newspapers are saying I will have to refund the money when nobody has been in touch with me about the money. Those reports showed bias, malice and campaign of smear. I have been a public officer all my life. I became a Permanent Secretary at the age of 39. I did not abuse my office. I became the Managing Director of a bank at 42. I did not abuse my office.

“The signature of an MD of a bank is money, yet I did not take one kobo illegally and, at that time, my bank was one of the fastest growing banks in the country. I did not receive one single query from the Central Bank. Then I became the Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria and substantial amount of security vote was under my control. I did not touch one kobo illegitimately.

“Then I became Minister of Finance of Nigeria, both naira and dollar were under my control at the Central Bank, I did not abuse the office. So people should look at my type of person and say, can this person do this? When as a young man that I needed money for many things I didn’t take anything, now that I am old, what will I be doing with it? When you grow old, the less you enjoy money. So that is the truth of the matter. I feel ashamed that some people can be repeating these lies. It is absolutely false and there is no basis for it”.

Falae said by roping him into the Dasuki scandal, the Buhari administration’s anti-corruption war has been thrown up for what it is–a vendetta.

“Buhari’s anti-corruption war is going out of hand. They know that there is no charge they can bring against me. That’s why smear campaign is used as a substitute so that, over time, people will say I am a bad man .

“I read some articles in the paper that say the anti-graft war is increasingly becoming controversial. It is truly becoming controversial because it is no longer reasonable, it is beginning to look selective.

“How could you link me with Dasuki? The person I have not seen for more than 20 years. The man I had no dealing with whatsoever”.

“It is important to clean Nigeria up. Let me tell you a story. In 1985 when Buhari was the Head of State, I had retired from the civil service and had joined the banking industry. This kind of thing was going on. But, you know, once a public officer is always a public officer. So, I went and met with the then Head of the Civil Service, Mr Gray Longe, and I told him to advise the government that they could not be going on sacking people, probing people. There are two models to clean up a society: The Sampling Model and Total Revolution, like the French Revolution.

“The one that might be suitable for our own situation is for the government to take cases that are very unambiguous to court and make such people as examples, take the money from them and send them to jail. Then put that behind you and go ahead with the development of the society.

“But, if you take all the time looking for every criminal to send to jail, that will be an endless journey. At the beginning, the people will hail you because they like to see big men fall, but, as more and more people are destroyed, more and more members of the public will be affected. For some, their brothers or fathers or friends would have lost their jobs and, at the end of the day, the tide will turn and people will turn against that government. To avoid that, my recommendation is that government should make some people who are found to be corrupt scape goats”.