The Spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Daniel Bwala, has said President Muhammadu Buhari has failed in his war against corruption.
Rather than curb corruption, Mr Bwala said the situation has worsened under the Buhari administration.
In 2015, President Buhari was elected on a platform of eradicating corruption, reducing insecurity, and advancing the economy.
Mr Bwala concedes that the President started his administration on the right note but failed to stay on track.
He said, “I recall at the time he (President Buhari) started, the corruption was purely prosecuted on the basis of professionalism and there was no colouration of politics in it.
“This was why the president got some accolades and awards over a period of time.
“But the corruption level has assumed a proportion at this moment that can only be said to be historic because I do not think that since the commencement of this Republic, there is corruption that has gone as far as this.”
Mr Bwala was responding to Bishop Mathew Kukah’s Christmas message, in which he heavily criticised the Buhari administration, accusing it of failing to fulfill promises made to Nigerians and leaving the country more vulnerable than it was when it came to power.
“It is sad that despite your lofty promises, you are leaving us far more vulnerable than when you came, that the corruption we thought would be fought has become a leviathan and sadly, a consequence of a government marked by nepotism,” Bishop Kukah wrote in his message.
For Bwala, the evidence of corruption in the Federal Government abound.
“You don’t need to go far,” he said before pointing to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the petroleum industry.
“If you look at the Central Bank, the revelation that has come out through Kazaure, a House of Reps member, is quite instructive,” he said, referencing claims by Mr Muhammed Gudaji Kazaure that stamp duty proceeds running into trillions had been embezzled.
Kazaure, a member of the All Progressives Congress and Rep from Jigawa State had claimed that N89tn worth of Stamp Duty Proceeds had been stolen, a claim the Presidency has dismissed.
Mr Bwala believes that there is truth in the claim.
He said, “I am telling you that by the time that can of worms, that pandora box, is opened, it will probably bring down the entire government. Because if you hear his (Kazaure’s) confessional statement, he has practically indicted the entire cabinet of the President. And he was bringing letters to the Brekete Family where they were reading them.?
Mr Bwala believes the situation in the petroleum industry is even worse.
According to him, if the same thing is applied to the Petroleum Industry, with the shocking revelation about oil theft, it will sink the country.
“In terms of corruption, the President is going to leave a historic, sad memory,” he added.
