One of the campaign pillars of the Buhari administration is the fight against corruption but it has all been motion without movement. With the absence of a Minister of Information, Governor Oshiomhole seem to have arrogated to himself the unenviable role of the attack dog and Propaganda Minister of the Buhari regime.
The various unsubstantiated claims by Governor Oshiomhole are, in all honesty, eroding his once cherished brand image. His unrivaled gifts of oratory and elocution, which used to be huge assets are embarrassingly becoming image eroders.
It is no longer news that the Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole on Monday alleged that he was told by an unnamed United States government official that a Minister in the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan stole a whopping sum of $6 billion.
Unfortunately, Governor Oshiomhole neither named the US official who furnished him with the information nor the former Minister who allegedly stole the gigantic amount of money.
It is also curious that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will treat such a weighty allegation insouciantly. One would have expected that armed with such mind-boggling information, the matter would have been handed over to the security agencies for thorough investigation and prosecution.
Instead of following due process, what we are having is media trial of the unidentified Minister and politicisation of what should have been an opportunity to recover part of the $150 billion allegedly stolen by government officials in the past ten years.
It would be recalled that President Buhari himself made the $150 billion allegation during his recent visit to the United States of America. Like Governor Oshiomhole, President Buhari is said to have gotten the information from unnamed American officials.
According to one of the Spokesmen of the President Mallam Garba Shehu in an interview with Daily Trust: “… the international system has no place to hide for the rogue, whether he is a Nigerian rogue or South African or European. The world would see you and they will catch you. We just came from America and from the information that they gave the President they believe that Nigeria loses between $10 billion and $20 billion every year in the oil sector alone. Now if you are talking about a 10-year period, that money could well be over $150 billion. Buhari is simply saying, I am not begging the world for money; he did not go begging. He is saying help us to recover this money and we will be okay. So it could be well over $150billion”.
So the President’s allegation is speculative and without evidence. In legal parlance, it could be described as ‘Hear Say’. It should have been more beneficial to the country if the President solicited for and got the names of the thieves and evidence to nail them. Armed with such evidence, what we should be doing now is the the apprehension of the culprits instead of media disparagement of imaginary rogues.
This is not the first time that the Edo State governor will be making what appears to be outlandish accusation. In the last two months, he has accused former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of all sorts of financial infractions, indiscretion and malfeasance.
One of the campaign pillars of the Buhari administration is the fight against corruption but it has all been motion without movement. With the absence of a Minister of Information, Governor Oshiomhole seemed to have arrogated to himself the unenviable role of the attack dog and Propaganda Minister of the Buhari regime.
The various unsubstantiated claims by Governor Oshiomhole are, in all honesty, eroding his once cherished brand image. His unrivaled gifts of oratory and elocution, which used to be huge assets are embarrassingly becoming image eroders.
Commenting on the $6billion allegation, a senior journalist and a former Corporate Communications Manager in one of the top banks in the country, Mr, Ken Tadefarua said: “I am truly worried for the comrade governor. This is a guy many perceived as so brilliant to be considered a future presidential material. But now he appears punch drunk on a heady political cocktail of vile propaganda and flights of fantasy from which he manufactures unproven theft of ludicrously huge sums against political enemies.
“What is the name of the rogue minister that looted $6 billion. How was the minister able to steal more than the annual national budget? If Oshiomhole is unable to provide the answers to these questions, he would do well to restrain his absurd capacity for slander sprouting.
He is in rapid descent from the Olympian heights of a highly respected labour leader turned governor to an increasingly pitiful mouthpiece of unofficial junk news of corruption. Trashing his hard earned reputation for the dubious job of hatchet man. Who can say? Perhaps the recent visit, as a member of the presidential delegation, to the White House and the opportunity to shake hands with Obama is one of the payoffs for his verbal diarrhea. I hope he does not like his colleague, Owelle Rochas put up, with childish excitement, billboards of the picture of his handshake with Obama all over Benin City. The man should keep his dignity intact because some of us continue still to love him”.
By Charles Igbinidu
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