Goodluck supporters hit back at Magu asking him to address US report and probe Tinubu's bullion vans

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan's supporters have hit back at claims made earlier this week by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman Ibrahim Magu that as much as N1.3trn ($3.6bn) was stolen under his watch.

While President Jonathan was in office between 2010 and 2015, Nigeria enjoyed her biggest ever boom as global crude oil prices stood at an average of about $100 a barrel and output peaked at around 2.7m barrels a day, surpassing Nigeria's 2.5m barrels Opec quota. Since assuming office in 2015, the administration of President Buhari has accused the previous government of wanton corruption and has charged many officials to court.

Adding his voice to the debate, Mr Magu said that as much as N1.3trn went missing under President Jonathan's watch during the four years between 2011 and 2015. He added that one third of this money could have comfortably been used to construct well over 500km of roads, built close to 200 schools, educated about 4,000 children from primary to tertiary institution level at N25m per child and built 20,000 units of two-bedroom houses across the country.

However, hitting back at Mr Magu, Reno Omokri, a former aide to President Jonathan, accused the EFCC boos of bias and hypocrisy. He advised the Buhari government to address the US which recently released a damning report on its corruption fight, saying Mr Magu sought to drag President Jonathan into the mix when he was expected to have used the forum he spoke at to address the issues of impunity raised in the US State Department report.

Mr Omokri said: “The claim of stolen N1.3trn public funds which Magu reiterated on Monday is not new, for the discerning members of the public, the claim is a rehash of false allegations that started its ill-fated journey in 2016. In January 2016, Muhammadu Buhari’s prophetically named minister of information Alhaji Lai Mohammed, claimed at a world press conference in Abuja, to mark the beginning of the administration’s war against corruption, that 55 well-placed Nigerians stole a whopping N1.34trn between 2006 and 2013, a period covering the presidencies of Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan.

“Nine months later in October 2016, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay repeated the allegation with only a slight alteration, by alleging that about N1.4trn was stolen by top government officials and businessmen under the last three administrations. It will also be recalled that in July 2015, Adams Oshiomhole, the current chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), had alleged that a former government minister in Nigeria stole $6bn (N2.1trn).

"Oshiomhole said US officials informed President Muhammadu Buhari of the alleged theft during his visit to Washington the previous month. However, the US State Department denied the story, asking Oshiomhole, to name the official and not drag the US into Nigerian domestic politics.

"The truth is that Ibrahim Magu lied and this is not the first, or second time he has lied to the public. It would be recalled that Mr Magu has boasted on many occasions that the EFCC under him had recovered about N739bn within two years, adding that over N500bn was recovered in 2017 alone.

“However, Kemi Adeosun, the then minister of finance in the same government at that time, decided to put a lie to Mr Magu’s claims by revealing in March 2018 that contrary to all the figures provided over time by the EFCC’s acting chairman, only N91bn of such claims could be accounted for by the government.

“So, instead of relying on wild and unsubstantiated allegations, I would advise Mr Magu to focus on some facts, like the following:

According to Transparency International, Nigeria is more corrupt today than at any time during the five-year period of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s time in office.

Whereas under Jonathan and the PDP, Nigeria made her best ever improvement on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, moving eight places forward from 144 to 136 in 2014,under President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, Nigeria has made her worst ever retrogression, moving backwards 12 places from 136 to 148.

It is also a fact that under the Muhammadu Buhari administration arranged the recall, reinstatement and double promotion of Abdulwasiu Maina, the biggest ever thief in Nigeria’s civil service history and even gave him armed guards.

It is also a fact under the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation awarded $25bn worth of contracts without due process. To put this in perspective, that money can pay 1m Nigerians the proposed new minimum wage of ₦30,000 for four years.

Moreover, it is a fact that renowned entertainer, Mr Charles Oputa, also known as Charly Boy, recently revealed that the spokesman for the Muhammadu Buhari re-election campaign, Mr Festus Keyamo, paid him a nine-figure sum to attack the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the February 2019 presidential elections. The question Mr Magu should answer is where did Festus Keyamo get so much money that he carelessly throws around?

Finally, Nigerians saw clear evidence via drone imagery that bullion vans carted cash to the home of the national leader of the All Progressive Congress, Senator Bola Tinubu, 48 hours to the presidential election. Mr Tinubu even boasted on live television that the bullion vans carried money and that it is nobody’s business.

This is even as the Money Laundering Act of 2011 makes it illegal for any individual to make cash payments exceeding N5m and provides that every cash transaction over ₦5,000,000 must be done via a financial institution. ‪These are the types of characters surrounding President Buhari, characters that you will not trust with even your dog.

Mr Magu should realise that his credibility and that of the agency he leads should derive from the attention he gives to objectivity, professionalism and hard evidence. It is rather unfortunate that Mr Magu chose to enmesh state institutions such as the EFCC into partisan politics.