President Muhammadu Buhari says a former president has questions to answer over the $16 billion power project. Buhari said this on Tuesday when he hos
President Muhammadu Buhari says a former president has questions to answer over the $16 billion power project. Buhari said this on Tuesday when he hosted the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) led by Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Although he did not mention the name of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Buhari asked “where was the power after a former president claimed to have spent $16 billion on the project? You know the rail was killed and one of the former heads of state was bragging that he spent more than 15 billion American dollars on power. Where is the power? Where is the power?” he asked.
In 2008, the house of representatives had described $16 billion spent on power by Obasanjo’s government as colossal waste, blaming it on poor budget planning and a lack of proper oversight by relevant bodies. Two years ago, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria, to appoint an independent counsel to investigate allegations of corruption in the spending of $16 billion on electricity by Obasanjo’s government.
Buhari told his guest that his government had invested heavily in infrastructure. He also appealed to Nigerians to live in one accord, narrating his experiences before he won the 2015 election.
“Now, we have to pay debts. This year and last year’s budget had the highest in capital projects: more than 1.3 trillion naira. Let anybody come and confront me publicly in the national assembly,” he said.
“What have they been doing? Some of them have been there for 10 years, what have they been doing? I said it about eight years ago that we have no other country than Nigeria. We should remain here and salvage it together no matter what you have outside.
Meanwhile, former president Olusegun Obasanj has agreed to a probe over the recent news report quoting President Buhari as asking where was the power the former president claimed he had spent $16bn on. Obasanjo had said in a statement that this was not the first time such question would be asked as the immediate past administration before Buhari had done the same thing. He said all the enquiries and probes carried out had vindicated him and cleared him of any corrupt acts concerning the $16bn spent on power during his administration. He said Buhari was merely re-echoing unsubstantiated allegation by the previous administration based on ignorance.
