“I Will Probe $16bn Obasanjo Spent On Power Project” – Buhari Vows

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President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to probe the $16bn spent on failed power project by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said his government would recover the money and expose those behind the scam.

President
Buhari, who spoke on Tuesday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital,
during the All Progressives Congress presidential campaign rally, said
he was unrelenting in his pursuit of those who looted the nation’s
resources.

The President, who landed at the government helipad,
was received by the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, before he
proceeded to pay a courtesy call on the traditional rulers in the state.

Addressing
the crowd, Buhari said his administration despite the daunting
challenges had been able to curtail the security issues in the
North-East while the economy was on the way to becoming self-reliant.

Although
he did not mention Obasanjo, Buhari said, “The previous government
mentioned on their own that they spent $16bn on power but you are better
witnesses than myself. Where is the power? Where is the money? We will
follow them, eventually God willing, we will catch them and get our
money back.”

The Federal Government was reported to have spent N16bn on power projects between 1999 and 2007 when Obasanjo was in government.

Obasanjo’ll make himself available for probe, says aide

When
contacted by one of our correspondents, the media aide to Obasanjo,
Kehinde Akinyemi, said his principal was expecting the probe, adding
that he would make himself available anytime.

He said the former President had since last year said that he was ready for probe.

Obasanjo media aide said a statement had been issued last year where the former President announced his readiness for the probe.

Akinyemi
said, “It is no more news. We are already expecting that. Since last
year, Baba (Obasanjo) had said he would make himself available for the
probe.”

Buhari likes illusion, says Osuntokun

Obasanjo, he
said, had even written a book about it and also volunteered information
about the issue to the National Assembly and the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission.

He said the President “likes illusion,”
adding that the former President had said that there was nothing like
$16bn as being claimed by Buhari.

Osuntokun said, “We have a
danger in our hands. President Obasanjo has written about this issue. He
had volunteered information to the National Assembly and all that.
Buhari is busy wining and dining with those being investigated by the
EFCC, claiming that their sins had been forgiven.”

Also, the PDP
said Nigerians should not take the President seriously, adding that
there were signs that he might not know what he was saying.

The
National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, said, “Are you
sure the President is aware of what he said? If he could claim in Ekiti
that he came to office in 2005, and then went to Ondo to say he was
raising the hands of Edo Central Senatorial candidate instead of Ondo
and all that, you think he should be taken seriously?”

Earlier
while addressing the APC supporters in Yenagoa, Buhari highlighted his
achievements and urged them to vote for him on February 16.

He
said, “We take the problems of security, economy and infrastructure
seriously and we are also promising that we will make people who occupy
executive positions both at state and federal levels to be accountable
to the people.

“You know we are building roads, the railway was
virtually killed but we are rebuilding it, and there was no power we
will bring power back.”

The former governor of Bayelsa State and
leader of the party in the state, Timpre Sylva, and the Minister of
State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Henieken Lokpobiri, urged
Bayelsans to vote massively for President Buhari and the APC come
Saturday.

Meanwhile, President Buhari has said he is all out for free, fair and credible elections starting on February 16.

The
President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam
Garba Shehu, said Buhari gave the assurance at a meeting with
traditional rulers at the secretariat complexes of the Councils of
Traditional Rulers in Yenagoa, Bayelsa, and Port Harcourt, Rivers, on
Tuesday.

Buhari said, “I assure you that I’m all out for free,
fair and credible elections. The Independent National Electoral
Commission knows my stand on this.

“Nigerians are assured of free and fair elections. Under this leadership, nobody will be allowed to intimidate other citizens.

“Nobody will be allowed to snatch ballot boxes and run with them. I will make sure that the votes count.’’

He
commended the introduction of the PVC and Card Reader, and urged the
nation to embrace the technology, arguing that without it, the 16 years
of misrule by the PDP would not have been brought to an end.

“In
16 years, the PDP thought nobody could remove them from office. The
introduction of the PVC and Card Reader made sure that our votes counted
in 2015 and the votes of Nigerians will count in 2019,’’ he stressed.

Election monitoring to cost each party N884m

Meanwhile,
INEC said with the 119, 973 polling units and 57, 023 voting points, it
might cost each party N884m to deploy agents in all the polling units.

The
INEC National Commissioner for Voter Education and Publicity, Festus
Okoye, said this during an interview with one of our correspondents.

He said if each political party paid each polling agent N5,000, the total cost might be as high as N884m.

Okoye, therefore, rejected recommendations by the Inter-Party Advisory Council for the commission to provide funds for parties.

The
INEC commissioner said, “Even political parties that have resources
find it difficult deploying agents in all the polling units. We have
roughly 120,000 polling units and then we will create over 50,000 voting
points and at the end of the day, you will have almost 180,000 polling
units.

“If you are paying a party agent N5,000 per polling unit
at 160,000 polling units from morning till night; you know what that
means.

“So, if you multiply N5, 000 by 180,000 you know much that
will cost. At the ward collation centre we have 8, 809 wards and each
party will send agents to 8, 809 collation centres. So, it makes it a
near impossibility for any party that does not have funds to send party
agents and so on.”

Source:- Punchng

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