President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly received damning evidence that his Chief of Staff (CoS), Abba Kyari, took N500 million from operators of MTN to help the telecommunications company with a soft landing in the fine imposed on it by the federal government.
According to a report by SaharaReporters, the evidence was presented to President Buhari several times including during the Sallah holiday.
The sleazy revelations come in the wake of President Buhari’s insistence that he is fighting corruption and if anyone in his government were found to be corrupt, they would be sacked and prosecuted.
Confronted with the evidence, Abba Kyari reportedly claimed he was helping the All Progressives Congress (APC) party raise funds for the gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State, to which the president is said to have asked him if he was the party chairman, but did not relieve him of his post.
A similar pattern played out in the case of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, who reportedly used Nigerian Army funds to purchase homes in Dubai.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) has also been fingered in a corruption scandal that revealed how he bought homes for millions of dollars in Boston in the United States.
Following an exclusive report by SIGNAL on how former Governor of Rivers State and President Muhammadu Buhari’s Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi reportedly diverted over N40 billion into Buhari’s presidential campaign in 2015, a report by the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail beamed its searchlight on the corruption credentials of the former Rivers State governor.
According to Daily Mail, Amaechi “remains in his post despite being accused of misappropriating £338million by a commission investigating the sale of state assets. Separately, Amaechi is accused of diverting £140million of state funds into Buhari’s presidential campaign, with reports he paid for media, consultants and private jets.”
In the wake of corruption allegations against Amaechi who was the Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, the All Progressives Congress (APC) mounted a stout defence in support of Amaechi insisting that officials of anti-graft agencies cannot probe Amaechi without evidence. The party said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would not touch leaders of the ruling party except it has solid evidence.
In all cases of corruption where top officials of Buhari’s government have been accused, President Buhari has not only refused to act but consistently shielded his men from prosecution, raising serious concerns about what appears to be his tacit endorsement of corruption under his change administration.
Political observers watching the situation closely say the President’s “body language” to corruption allegations leveled against top officials of his government betrays a sinister agenda that may not be unconnected with Buhari’s plan to build a financial war-chest ahead of the 2019 presidential polls.
Informed sources say the President is already focused on seeking re-election in 2019.
“To win an election, you need a lot of money. Buhari knows how much was spent for his election in 2015. So what he is simply doing is to empower some of his henchmen to systematically loot and get away without being probed or prosecuted. Look at the people involved, the men who have been accused in his government occupy very strategic positions. They are the ones he will be banking on to carry out the dirty job of getting him back into office in 2019. So forget about probe. It will not happen. If you like, let the FBI bring evidence, Amaechi will not be prosecuted under Buhari. Buratai will not be prosecuted. Dambazzau will not be prosecuted. It’s the same with Abba Kyari the Chief of Staff. If anyone ever gets prosecuted under Buhari’s government, they are probably being used as scapegoats because they are inconsequential to the agenda in view”, a source who did not want to be named disclosed to SIGNAL.
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