Buhari lied on return of looted funds – Fayose

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has carpeted President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim that many of those who looted public treasuries in the government of former president Goodluck Jonathan had started returning the stolen funds to the government.

Fayose said the President should rather stay at home to govern the country instead of junketing around the globe and acting like a saint before the international community.

The governor challenged Buhari to tell Nigerians how much was returned and name looters who returned stolen funds, adding, “since the purported looted funds belong to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it ought to have been paid into the Federation Account and shared by federal, state and local governments.”

Fayose’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti yesterday that the governor advised President Buhari to tackle the country’s collapsed economy headlong instead of going from one country to another, casting aspersion on Nigerians with his sing-song of fighting corruption.

He also added that the President’s attitude was yet to change from that of 1984 when he was military Head of State. “Buhari’s statement in Tehran, Iran, that it was easier for him as a military Head of State in 1984 to arrest corrupt individuals and put them in protective custody was a pointer to the fact that he has not changed from the dictator that he was then.

“The truth is that Buhari did not fight corruption in 1984. Rather, he persecuted great Nigerians, especially the likes of Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Ambrose Ali, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Chief Bola Ige, who served the people meritoriously.“Is Buhari justifying the imprisonment of Dr Alex Ekwueme, who was only the vice president or All Progressives Congress (APC) leader like Chief Bisi Akande, who only served as a deputy governor?”

While urging the president to stop acting like the sole- administrator of Nigeria and the only honest man among Nigerians, Governor Fayose said “Nigerians are desirous of concrete development, not rhetoric about fight against corruption that is only being used to persecute perceived political enemies of the President both in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and within the APC…

“Honestly, this President should get to work and stop lying to Nigerians and the international community.”