President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his association with Gov. of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has not in any way affected his anti corruption war.
He insisted that he was shielding anybody saying it was sheer mischief for anybody to suggest that he doing so based on his closeness to an individual.
Buhari’s position was made known in a statement by the Presidency no Thursday, which maintained that there is a difference between perception and reality.
The statement was in reaction to comments trailing the announcement of Ganduje as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, by President Buhari, at a rally in Kano.
It pointed to the prosecution of senior government officials, such as a former Secretary to the Government and a former state governor who is a member of the APC, currently serving jail term as proof of the will and determination of Mr. President to prosecute the anti-corruption war irrespective of who is involved.
It further noted that the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof. Usman Yusuf, is currently on administrative leave as part of President Buhari’s commitment to transparency and accountability.
According to the statement, no official under the present administration will go unpunished once found to have broken the law.
Making reference to the case of Gov. Ganduje of Kano State, the statement noted that as a sitting Governor, he enjoys immunity from prosecution in his own right and that under Nigerian laws, a suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Recall that sometime last year, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje was caught in a video allegedly collecting bribe from contractors.
The Presidency argued that since the bribe case against Ganduje was in court, the President had no power to dictate to the court or the Kano State House of Assembly, which is already investigating the matter, what to do with the allegations against Ganduje.
The statement challenged President Buhari’s critics to provide evidence that those facing corruption allegations were innocent, adding that the President’s zero tolerance for corruption has boosted and remarkably improved Nigeria’s image in the eyes of world leaders.
Furthermore, it added that it was unfair to ignore the larger picture of the President’s major successes in the anti corruption war, including blocking leakages of corruption, which in turn, have boosted government revenues.
