A former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, has said that the “greatest mistake” of former President Olusegun Obasanjo is his failure to prosecute and jail President Muhammadu Buhari for “looting the Petroleum Trust Fund” when he was in power.
This remark came on the heels of President Muhammadu Buhari’s criticism of Obasanjo alleged spending $16bn on power projects during his tenure as the President with little or nothing to show for it.
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Fani-Kayode who is a loyalist of Obasanjo and served as minister under him, made the statement on Facebook on Wednesday.
“The greatest mistake that President Obasanjo made was not to prosecute and jail President Buhari for looting PTF funds,” he said.
“I saw the report and it was shocking. Billions of dollars had vanished. Obasanjo summoned him and showed him the damning report. Buhari begged like a baby. Sadly Obasanjo let him off the hook.”
Buhari was appointed by late General Sani Abacha to head the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF), in 1994.
PTF was disbanded by Obasanjo when he became president in 1999.
He later set up a national committee to investigate allegation of mismanagement of the funds.
The committee, however, advised Obasanjo to set up a judicial panel to recover about N25 billion that was reportedly mismanaged, but no action was taken about the recommendation.
Although he did not mention any name, Buhari said a former Nigerian leader was bragging at a time that his administration spent a huge amount on power sector, yet there was little or nothing to show for it.
The former minister of aviation is under investigation for an alleged fraud of N4.9bn as the Director of Publicity of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 presidential campaign organisation.
