Buhari has again aired his candid views about the pains and hardship of fighting corruption in a civilian administration where the rule of law is supreme.
Muhammadu Buhari
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in an address at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Abuja recently said it's not so easy to prosecute treasury looters like before.
"When I was in uniform, you took the perceived corrupt ones and put them in safe custody and quietly told them they were guilty until they can prove themselves innocent," he said.
"But now under multi-party democratic system, I see some of them ride Rolls Royce, some of them have built estates here, but they are innocent until we can prove them guilty.
"This situation is true and you don’t need to stress your imagination to find out. If you can find out, you discover that a level eight officer has five houses, while you, as a Permanent Secretary or Commissioner is still living in a rented house. We have to get credible evidence to carry out successful prosecution and get judgement from the Judiciary. But effort is being made to give a list of recoveries in whatever currencies so far so that Nigerians will know that it is not all about long stories."
"When I was in uniform, you took the perceived corrupt ones and put them in safe custody and quietly told them they were guilty until they can prove themselves innocent," he said.
"But now under multi-party democratic system, I see some of them ride Rolls Royce, some of them have built estates here, but they are innocent until we can prove them guilty.
"This situation is true and you don’t need to stress your imagination to find out. If you can find out, you discover that a level eight officer has five houses, while you, as a Permanent Secretary or Commissioner is still living in a rented house. We have to get credible evidence to carry out successful prosecution and get judgement from the Judiciary. But effort is being made to give a list of recoveries in whatever currencies so far so that Nigerians will know that it is not all about long stories."
