Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has replied President Muhammadu Buhari’s comment that he waste $16 billion on a failed power project, saying the president is merely being ignorant of the facts.
The former president said the action of Buhari was based on ignorance, as he was relying on the unsubstantiated allegations against him by the then leadership of House of Representatives over the project.
Obasanjo, who spoke through his media aide Kehinde Akinyemi , said lack of proper understanding made the President to make such comment.
“It has come to the attention of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo that a statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari, apparently without correct information and based on ignorance, suggested that $16 billion was wasted on power projects by “a former President”.
“We believe that the President was re-echoing the unsubstantiated allegation against Chief Obasanjo by his own predecessor but one, while it is doubtful that a President with proper understanding of the issue would utter such, it should be pointed out that records from the National Assembly had exculpated President Obasanjo of any wrong-doing concerning the power sector and has proved the allegations as false.
“For the records, Chief Obasanjo has addressed the issues of the power sector and the allegations against him on many occasions and platforms, including in his widely publicised book, ‘My Watch’ in which he exhaustively stated the facts and reproduced various reports by both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which conducted a clinical investigation into the allegations against Chief Obasanjo, and the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Review of the Recommendations in the Report of the Committee on Power on the Investigation into how the Huge Sums Of Money was Spent on Power Generation, Transmission And Distribution between June 1999 and May 2007 without Commensurate Result.
“We recommend that the President and his co-travellers should read Chapters 41, 42, 43 and 47 of My Watch for Chief Obasanjo’s insights and perspectives on the power sector and indeed what transpired when the allegation of $16 billion on power projects was previously made. If he cannot read the three-volume book, he should detail his aides to do so and summarise the chapters in a language that he will easily understand,” he said.
According to Akinyemi, “In the same statement credited to the President, it was alleged that there was some bragging by Chief Obasanjo over $16 billion spent on power. To inform the uninformed, the so-called $16 billion power expenditure was an allegation against Chief Obasanjo’s administration and not his claim. The President also queried where the power generated is. The answer is simple: The power is in the seven National Integrated Power Projects and eighteen gas turbines that Chief Obasanjo’s successor who originally made the allegation of $16 billion did not clear from the ports for over a year and the civil works done on the sites.
He said Obasanjo challenged and encouraged anybody to set up another enquiry if in doubt and unsatisfied with the EFCC’s report and that of the Hon. Aminu Tambuwal-led ad-hoc committee, Vanguard reports.
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Posted: at 22-05-2018 10:59 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero
fineboy77 at 22-05-2018 11:22 PM (5 years ago) (m)
these thieves get mind dey throw their robbery for our faces,but trust the Nigerian public to do nothing
What is the color beneath your skin?
Posted: at 22-05-2018 11:22 PM (5 years ago) | Addicted Hero
OBJ should not think that Nigerians have forgotten that all the money he spent on electricity came to nothing. We need to start questioning these people. Journalists should go and check out OBJ's power projects, and see how many of them actually came on stream. WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
Posted: at 23-05-2018 12:43 AM (5 years ago) | Upcoming
Make buhari no dey try decieve us,he must be probed!!! He was the first thief wey steal 6billion dollars when dollar was equivalent to British pounds.. Convert that money to today's money. How many trillions has he borrowed since 2015 till date? Obsanjo brought gsm to nigeria, brought computers. What has buhari done? Fighting obsanjo in the political arena is like hitting your head on the wall. Obsanjo fought his party members that were corrupt few went to jail. I mean his own party members. Who in APC has buhari probed?
Posted: at 23-05-2018 01:44 AM (5 years ago) | Hero
It annoyed me whenever Buhari claims to be saint,Buhari a big criminal which everybody have seen in this administration but baba Obj is the biggest criminal. Well, i don't blame both of them because we have been over shadowed with tribal and religious sentiment that the reason all this old men are still doing whatever they want in this nation and get away with it.
Posted: at 23-05-2018 02:06 AM (5 years ago) | Upcoming