PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has confirmed that some persons who served under the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration have started to refund part of their loot in office.
This followed months of speculation that former officials of government had volunteered to return such stolen public money as a way to get soft-landing in the hands of the present administration.
Addressing Nigerians residents in Tehran, the capital of Iran where he attended a summit of Gas Exporting Exporting Forum (GECF), he also explained why those accused of corruption had not been charged to court, saying that it was due to the need to gather enough evidence against them.
He however assured that proper investigation was being done to get the evidence to begin their prosecution soon.
Buhari pointed out that it was easier for him to deal with corrupt people when he was a military head of state in 1985 when it was possible to arrest culprits and put them in protective custody compared to now where he must adhere to the requirements of democratic system.
In response to a question, he said: “On corruption, yes, they (suspects) are still innocent. But, we are collecting documents and some of them have started voluntarily returning something.
But we want all. “When we get those documents, we will formally charge them to court and then we will tell Nigerians to know those who abused trust when they are entrusted with public funds. “So, the day of reckoning is gradually approaching.”
The president also vowed to deal with power infrastructure vandals to enable the nation realise its full power potential, noting that even though his administration was yet to do anything in the sector, there had been a noticeable improvement in recent times.
He attributed such improvement to the decision of people to do the right thing. He said: “I believe if you are in touch back at home, you would have been told that already, there is some improvement in power.
“We haven’t said anything to them yet. I think they only find it sensible or appropriate for them to try and improve the power.
“I’m sure you know about the privatisation of the power sector. Your old friends NEPA or Power Holding Company of Nigeria have been sold to a number of interest groups. But, the fundamental thing about us is that we remain potential in everything except performance.
“We have a lot of gas, we have a lot of qualified people but again, we have a lot of saboteurs who go and blow installations.
“Those who normally steal Nigerian crude and those who blow up installations. Whether they called themselves militants or whatever, they are still there.” (Tribune)
