Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole has insisted that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration plundered the nation’s economy despite the defence being put forward by the former Minister of Finance, and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Speaking during a reception held in Abuja on Friday night by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) for the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity,Mr. Femi Adesina, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity,Mallam Garba Shehu, the governor said President Muhammadu Buhari has not done anything out of place by beaming his anti-corruption searchlight on those who ran the nation’s affairs and managed the economy in the last dispensation.
He insists that the nation cannot succeed in the war against corruption unless people are prosecuted, stressing that “If Nigerians know what these people did, they will stone them to death, jungle justice. 700 million dollars gone on second Niger bridge without any bridge to show”.
Oshiomhole, visibly angry, said he may not be able to reveal as much as he would have liked but maintained that if Nigerians knew what actually went down during Jonathan’s reign, they would stone him and his cabinet members on the street.
He wondered why those crying foul now kept silent when many wrongdoings were carried out under Jonathan.
He said he now have a President who boldly told the world that the issue of corruption, if it is not killed, it will kill us. And since we don’t want to die, we have to kill corruption.
“But the forces behind corruption are powerful; some are visible and some are not visible. They are men and women of means. Many are even billionaires in dollar and euro.
“Now where are the forces that will queue behind the president to confront the drivers of corruption? As you can see, people are already asking questions about due process, people are asking questions about selective prosecution and so on.
His words: “my helicopter was stopped when I was going to Ekiti State as a governor with immunity. I was stopped by a low-level military officer from flying to Ekiti because my purpose was to campaign. I didn’t quite hear pastors protest on my behalf.
“When Rotimi Amaechi was detained by a Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and they moved tankers to Government House, heavens didn’t fall.”
Stressing that it is impossible to fight corruption without having casualties,Oshiomhole said:”it is only in Nigeria that for 16 years, a particular political party was in power, they were fighting corruption war but there were no casualties. It is like the Nigerian Police that sees criminal and shoot into the air.”
He said that for once Nigeria now has a President with enormous political will to get the job done.
“Whether in the course of doing it, he will make a mistake that he will become too careful as to leave the job undone. For all of us who agree, lamentations won’t be our portion forever. It is time to get organized and deal with these issues.”
