BUHARI ALLEGEDLY ORDERS AMAECHI, FASHOLA, ABBA KYARI TO RESIGN OVER CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS
BUHARI
ALLEGEDLY ORDERS AMAECHI, FASHOLA, ABBA KYARI TO RESIGN OVER CORRUPTION
ALLEGATIONS
President Muhammadu Buhari has allegedly ordered the resignation
of the former Governor of Rivers State who is now the Minister of Transport,
Rotimi Amaechi.
Also alleged to have been asked to resign are Minister of Power,
Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and Chief of Staff to the president, Abba
Kyari over various allegations of corruption, DAILY POST exclusively gathered.
A source in the Presidential Villa told DAILY POST that Buhari
worried that having these persons in his cabinet could put so much to question
about his personality and frustrate the present anti-corruption war had advised
them to quietly resign.
The source also said the President reminded them of his earlier
warning that if he sacked any of his appointees, such would be prosecuted.
It would be recalled that there had been several allegations of
corruption flying in and outside the media about Ameachi. A leading Newspaper
in the United Kingdom, UK, ‘The Mail Daily,’ on Sunday, May 15, 2016 published
a report revealing how Rotimi Amaechi allegedly looted Nigeria’s treasury.
The report claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s
‘fantastically corrupt” friend, spent over $140 million on the president’s 2015
campaign and has been accused of stealing £500 million.
Also a Judicial Commission of Inquiry in Rivers State had
allegedly indicted the former governor for looting the treasury of the state,
when he served as Governor for eight years. Amaechi had, however, denied these
various allegations.
His contemporary, Babatunde Fashola, had equally been petitioned
over mismanagement of Lagos state funds. It would be recalled that the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was petitioned by the Civil Society
Network Against Corruption, a coalition of anti-corruption organisations in
Nigeria, over an alleged “questionable expenditures” of the administration of
Babatunde Fashola. He allegedly approved before he left office, N78.3 million
from the state’s treasury for an upgrade of his personal website, an allegation
he had since denied.
Relatively, it has been alleged that the Chief of Staff (CoS),
Abba Kyari, took N500m from operators of MTN to help the telecommunications
giant mitigate the fine imposed on it by the federal government.
The chief of staff was also allegedly involved in a deal of taking
money from Jide Omokore, a shady businessman who was allegedly involved in
corruption in the oil sector during the preceding administration.
”The president has been waiting patiently for them to resign,’’
The source stressed.
When DAILY POST contacted the Senior Special Adviser to the
president on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, he simply said in a text message
thus; ‘’I am sorry I am in Abuja and I can’t confirm or deny the report with
the president who is now in London. If you can leave me out of this, I will
appreciate.’’
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari
recently suspended the Secretary
to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr David Babachir
Lawal and ordered an investigation into the allegations of violations of law
and due process made against him in the award of contracts under the
Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).
The President had equally ordered a
full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and
local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a
residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National
Intelligence Agency (NIA) made a claim, hence suspending the DG,
Ambassador Ayo Oke.
The investigation is also to enquire into the circumstances in
which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which
authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or
not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining
custody and use of the funds.
Meanwhile, when DAILY POST contacted Fashola’s Media aide, Bello
Hakeem, he listened carefully but hung up. He rejected all other calls put
across to him to get Fashola’s reaction.
Effort to reach Ameachi’s media aides failed as mobile phones were
permanently switched off.
