President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday failed to fulfill a promise he made on May 14, 2016 in London that he would personally provide specific details of all stolen public funds recovered by his administration during his Democracy Day speech.
The president was quoted in an interview he granted a Nigerian private television station from London as saying: “So far, what has come out, what has been recovered in whatever currency from each ministries, departments and individuals, I intend on the 29th to speak on this because all Nigerians are getting from the mass media because of the number of people arrested either by the EFCC, DSS. But we want to make a comprehensive report on the 29th”.
It was on this premise that millions of Nigerians, including this reporter, as early as 7.00am, stayed glued to their television and radio sets as well as streamed live, the president’s Democracy Day nationwide broadcast in a bid to hear the names of those that have allegedly returned their share of the loot they stole from the public treasury.
However, they were disappointed as Mr. Buhari, throughout the nearly 30 minutes broadcast during which he touched on various aspects of his administration’s performance in the last 12 months, failed to give specific details of recovered loot, only confirming that significant amount of assets had been recovered.
The president also reiterated previous claims that his administration was grappling with bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult for stolen assets to be recovered from foreign countries where they were stashed by the alleged looters.
“We are also engaged in making recoveries of stolen assets some of which are in different jurisdictions. The processes of recovery can be tedious and time consuming, but today I can confirm that thus far: significant amount of assets have been recovered. A considerable portion of these are at different stages of recovery”, he said.
Rather than personally speak on the matter and provide specific details as promised earlier this month in London where he participated in the Anti-Corruption Summit hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron, Mr. Buhari instead directed the Ministry of Information to periodically publish details on the assets recovered so far.
“Full details of the status and categories of the assets will now be published by the Ministry of Information and updated periodically. When forfeiture formalities are completed these monies will be credited to the treasury and be openly and transparently used in funding developmental projects and the public will be informed”, Mr. Buhari said.
With the hopes of millions dashed by the president’s failure to give specific details of the funds and assets so far recovered by his administration as part of his anti-corruption war, it is safe to assume that Mr. Buhari is fast becoming a leader whose words are most times, not his bound.
