President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate allegations of corrupt practices levelled against some top officials of his government.
In a terse statement the Presidency said: “The attention of the presidency has been drawn to a number of reports in the media, in which various accusations of corruption have been levelled against some top officials in the administration.
“In that regard, President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the involvement of any top government officials accused of any wrong-doing. If any of them are liable, they will not escape prosecution.”
Recently media reports linked the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF) Babachir David Lawal, to some issues concerning the award of contracts on the North East project. The SGF was indicted by the Senate of still running the corporate account the said company long after he was appointed the SGF. He was recommended for a sack by the Senate and prosecution afterwards. But he dismissed the allegation of the Senate as hogwash, dodging the issue of award of contract and other allegation when reporters confronted him.
The SGF was also accused of serially collecting bribes from candidates for political appointments. He denied all.
His counterpart in the Presidency, the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, has been having a running battle with corruption allegations. He was accused of muddling the fine imposed on telecoms giant, MTN, to cover his personal gains in the negotiation to prune down the fine from N1.04 trillion to N350 billion.
Another senior members of the President’s cabinet accused of corruption include the minister of transport, Rotimi Amaechi, who was the immediate governor of Rivers State and who was heavily indicted by the state government in a probe.
