• Buhari not witch-hunting PDP, says Useni
  • No, he is –Fayose

From Murphy Ganagana, Jos and Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti

TWO leading members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)- a governor and a senator-have disagreed over Presi­dent Muhammadu Buhari’s corruption war.

While Governor Ayo Fay­ose of Ekiti State said the anti-graft war was targeted at members of the PDP. General Jeremiah Useni (retd), a senator represent­ing Plateau South said Bu­hari was only at war with corrupt Nigerians who had betrayed the public trust, rather that vocal members of the main opposition party as being erroneously portrayed.

But Fayose insisted as he accused Buhari of shielding his men from probe, just. He asked Nigerians to de­mand the release of the au­thentic report of the Com­mittee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement in the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Speaking at a forum con­vened for stakeholders in his constituency office in Shendan, Plateau State, to discuss the contentious grazing reserve and ranch­ing initiative of the Federal Government at the week­end, Useni, former minis­ter of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) declared that Buhari was at war only with “corrupt Nigerians” who had betrayed the pub­lic trust.

“I don’t see President Muhammadu Buhari witch-hunting the People’s Democratic Party, but he is simply fighting war against corruption. Some people have been arrested and they are returning money; some are in court while some are yet to be arrested. We should support govern­ment in the fight against corruption and insurgen­cy,” he stated.

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While assuring that the prevalent gloomy economy would soon rebound, Use­ni, a close ally of the late General Sani Abacha and former National Chairman of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) before defect­ing to the PDP to contest the Plateau South senato­rial seat, urged Nigerians to be patient with the Buhari-led All Progressive Con­gress (APC) administration despite the hardship and pains they were currently facing.

Speaking in the same vein, Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Da­lung, said a close associate of Buhari who he did not mention, recently returned N100 million illicit public funds out of N170 million he had pocketed from an undisclosed source.

This, he noted, was an indication that the ongo­ing anti-graft crusade was in fulfillment of Bihar’s campaign promise of war against corruption, insur­gency, unemployment and provision of steady power supply.

“The president is not fighting war against any­body, but against a group of people who have en­riched their pockets, whether you are PDP, APC or whether you are the son of the president or you are from Daura; if it is corrup­tion, I can speak for Presi­dent Buhari that you will be arrested.

Reacting to the interim report of the arms panel released last week, the Ekiti governor, said claim by the Federal Govern­ment that the panel only looked into procurement and contracts awarded by the military between 2011- 2015 because documents regarding procurement between 2007-2010 were not available was a clear indication of Buhari’s sup­port for corruption. “It’s now obvious to the entire world that anyone that is in President Buhari’s good books can never be adjudged as corrupt even if such a person is caught looting the entire money in Nigeria’s treasury,” Fayose said in a statement issued by aide, Lere Olayinka.