The Presidency yesterday advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop distracting President Muhammadu Buhari with frivolous and unfounded allegations of selectively waging war against corruption.
Reacting to a PDP allegation by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said that contrary to the PDP allegations, President Buhari has not and would not shield any All Progressives Congress (APC) government official from facing prosecution for corruption.
The Presidential Spokesman explained that since President Buhari came into office, he has never told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) not to touch any APC Governor because they belong to the same party.
Malam Garba Shehu said it was convenient for the PDP to remember the cases of Sule Lamido while it pretended not to notice the fact that former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, who is an APC member, was also arrested and arraigned at the same time.
The Senior Special Assistant challenged Mr. Metuh to produce any evidence or instance when President Buhari interfered in the activities of the EFCC by telling them who to prosecute and who to shield from prosecution.
He also condemned as malicious and unfounded the allegation by Metuh that funds from the Excess Crude Account are being depleted by the Buhari administration to allegedly pay back APC Governors that contributed to his presidential campaign.
Malam Garba Shehu advised Metuh to either come forward with evidence, or apologize to Nigerians for willfully propagating falsehoods in order to gain cheap publicity or public sympathy.
The Media aide said that it was the responsibility of the former PDP administration to prosecute APC and PDP Governors whose alleged cases of corruption were brought to its attention.
He said that if the unseated PDP administration had these facts against APC governors, it was within its powers to prosecute them.
The Presidency also advised the PDP to stop crossing its bridges before it came to them only to intimidate the current administration from going ahead with its resolve to fight corruption at all levels.
On the allegation that the Buhari administration was secretly planning to award oil refining licences to its cronies, the Presidency describes the accusation as absurd and ridiculous, stressing that adherence to transparency and due process would always be President Buhari’s philosophy on doing things.
The Presidential statement reiterated that the Buhari administration is passionately committed to fighting corruption in all its ramifications, and that no amount of blackmail, distraction and false allegation would deflect him from this course in line with his campaign promises
