Muhammadu Buhari
President
Muhammadu Buhari last night justified the continued detention of former
National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and leader of
the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu.
He said those who committed serious crimes against the country cannot be granted temporary freedom because they could jump bail.
Speaking during his maiden “Presidential
Media Chat” on television, Buhari said the severity of the crimes
allegedly committed does not permit granting them bail.
“Technically, if you see the type of
atrocities these people have committed against the republic, against the
country, when you think about it, you can’t allow them to jump bail,”
he said.
Apparently referring to Dasuki, he
said: “Technically if you see the kinds of atrocities those people
committed against the country. If they jump bail, see the former
President wrote to the governor of central bank and said give N40bn to
so so and so, and then he gives account and you release him to go and
see his doctors in London, while about 2 million IDPs who don’t even
know their parents; what kind of country is that?
“And the one you are calling Kanu, do
you know he had two passports, one Nigerian, one British, and he came
into the country without any. Do you know he brought an equipment into
this country and was broadcasting, Radio Biafra; which kind of
government do you think should harbor that kind of person? There is a
treasonable felony against him and and I hope the court will listen to
the case.”
On the insurgency and the abducted
girls, the President said the Federal Government was open to negotiating
with credible leaders of the Boko Haram sect.
He said: “We want to be sure that the
girls are complete, safe and sound before we attempt any form of
negotiation on the girls. We are still keeping our options open. If a
credible leadership of Boko Haram is ready for negotiation without any
condition we are ready to listen to them.”
The President spoke on other issues, such as:
Federal lawmakers’ cars
He urged Nigerians to take the issue of
N50 billion proposed for federal lawmakers’ cars to court, adding that
If he could reject N400 million personal cars as a president, he
expected the lawmakers to toe the same line.
“For all I know, the first time I turned
down a N400million bill for cars for the Presidency. I said the
vehicles I am using are good enough for the next 10 years.
“But I understand there is a pool for
the protocols when Heads of States and Governments visit they have to
buy vehicles. As for the National Assembly, we are having problems with
them on the Treasury Single Account (TSA), everybody has to subject
himself to the TSA as long as federal money is involved.
“But I turned down about N50 billion for
vehicles, I think I have to hold a closed door meeting with them and I
think they have not bought them yet.
“N47.5billion for vehicles for National
Assembly members? I think I will explore the possibility of that power.
If I can turn down N400million for vehicles in the Presidency, I think
we don’t need new cars; we can manage the old ones because of the
economy. I can’t see the National Assembly spending more than N40
billion to buy cars on top of transport allowances they collected. I
have to revisit this story. They get N100 billion for their allowances.”
Corruption war
“I think we are doing quite well,
considering the circumstances, first, this will be best illustrated by
my personal experience. In fact, 30 years ago when I was in uniform as
Head of State, we arrested people who were perceived to be corrupt and
put them in protective custody and we told them they are guilty until
they can prove themselves innocent. Now I am here in a different form,
in a multi party democratic system and the nation we are looking forward
to cooperation, under the circumstances we found ourselves in –
security wise and economic wise, even morally.
Nnamdi Kanu
“The only acceptable decision to them is
those suspected to be corrupt are innocent until they are proven
guilty. Having said that we have been lucky to find some documents,
where public funds were diverted to personal pockets.
Illegally lifted crude
“We have some documents where Nigerian
crude oil was lifted illegally and the proceeds were put into personal
accounts instead of the Federal government account and of course we have
started going to court. We got evidence and we are taking the people to
court and whatever is in the court, we will not comment until we see
what they do with the documents we presented and how the attorney
general and minister of Justice, …
“There are terrible cases of corruption and we can only appeal to Nigerians to be patient.” He added
Recovered cash
“Our main constraints, eventually, the
persons have to find themselves in court and under any circumstances we
cannot pre-judge what the court will do but the document we are going to
submit and how the government will add to it through the Minister of
Justice, is what we have to develop the patience to do because once we
go to court, we shall keep our mouths shut. We cannot determine issues
when they are still in court.
“Money has been recovered but the fact
that whatever we recovered we have to end up in court because Nigerians
are entitled to know the truth and the truth will be what the court has
discovered by submissions made to them in terms of documentation ,
including the bank statements where it was lodged ,how it was lodged
whether it is petrol, money from NNPC or money from customs, or money
directly from central bank, when we do that,Nigeria will be better.” He
said
His assets
On when he will make full declaration of
his assets based on his promise, he said: “I have declared my assets
four times. I started during Murtala administration. I declared when I
was military administrator or northeastern states, I declared when I was
a member of supreme military council and minister of petroleum and when
I was leaving for the war college in 1979 and when I became head of
state in 1983, I declared my assets. But when I was removed I did not
declare because I was in detention. And when I came back as civilian
president, I declared, making four times.
“If you want my declarations, you have
the constitutional right to go to the code of conduct bureau. All my
declarations were documented in the Ministry of Justice. So if the
ministry of justice cannot produce my declarations, they too should
answer some questions on where they keep declarations of public
officers. I don’t have to ask them to provide my declarations.
Chibok girls
On moves to bring back the Chibok girls,
he said: “This is about the third time I will answer on Chibok girls. I
could recall that so many leadership of Boko Haram existed. But we
insisted on establishing the bonafide leadership of the so-called Boko
Haram leadership before we can agree to negotiate with them on what
terms will be of interest to us before we can take them to their
schools.
“Secondly, we want to ensure that they
are complete, 209 and they are safe and sound. But what we also found
talking to a lot of sources is that no Chibok girl has been recovered,
they must have dispersed them all over the place, and wanted as far as
humanly possible, although some of their parents are desperate they
would rather see their graves or the conditions some of them should be
in.
“We are still keeping our options open,
that if a credible leadership of Boko Haram can be established and they
tell us where those girls are we are prepared to negotiate with them
without any pre-condition. This we have made it absolutely clear, but
where they are keeping the Chibok girls, they must not get away with the
idea that we will not attempt to secure the rest of Nigeria.
On whether he has intelligence reports
on the girls whereabout, he said: “That is what I’m looking for. We are
looking for a credible Boko Haram leadership that will convince us that
the girls are there and alive. If any of Boko Haram can come out to say
it is the leader and that he knows where Chibok girls are we cannot
automatically believe him.
“That kind of information, I’m working
with Niger, Chad and the Cameroon and I assure you that the question of
Chibok girls is only on our minds for even humanitarian reasons, but
there is no such intelligence reports of where those girls are
physically are and in what condition they are in, but what we believe in
from our intelligence, is theta they keep shifting them around so that
they are not taken by surprise until the girls are freed, and they are
not kept in one place.
On if he has any cogent reliable
intelligence reports to say Chibok girls are still alive, he said: “…And
are in one place, that is right, that is the honest truth.”
“Marginalisation” of the Igbo
“When I have Boko Haram, I have the
militants, and now Biafra, they say they are marginalised, but they
didn’t define the extent of their marginalisation. Who is marginalizing
them? Do you know? Marginalised how? Who is Minister of State for
Petroleum, is he not Igbo? Who is the CBN governor, is he not Igbo? Who
is the Minister of Labour, Is he not Igbo? Who is the Minister of
Science and Technology, is he not Igbo? Who is the state minister of
education, is he not Igbo. So what do they want?”
Army/Shi’ite clash
“I was in touch with the governor of
Kaduna State and the president of Iran talked to me about it. We have a
system of investigation as a government and as the head of the Federal
Government, I have to wait for official report before I comment.
“The Police and the SSS are doing their
own role of finding out what happened. In any incident where lives and
property are lost, there is a standard way of doing things and people
would be asked to come and give evidence. How can any group create a
state within a state? I saw a clip in which some dissidents were
virtually hitting the chest of Generals.
“I expect the Kaduna State government
will bring the report on the inquiry because the crisis happened in its
domain. There are all sorts of allegations. So, we just have to wait for
the report.
“The President of Iran spoke to me about
the situation. But, I told him that as a government we have a system we
must follow. As the head of the Federal Government, I told him I will
have to wait for the official report from the Kaduna State government
from their investigations. To be fair to the both sides, we have to wait
for the report of the inquiry.”
Dasuki
IDPs
“The Benin IDP camp is a good intention
that went sour. Despite the problem, the Edo State Governor, Adams
Oshiomhole, was kind enough to have found school for the children. The
Federal Government is aware of the situation and ready to take them to
where they came from.
“We have about two million IDPs; over 70
per cent are women and children. Over 65 per cent of the children are
orphans. Some Nigerians contributed money, about N25 billion Naira, a
committee was set up to utilise the funds. Within the week I was sworn
in, I went to Chad and Niger. I was impressed with the goodwill they
gave Nigeria on this issue.
“The G7 has sent training teams, and
have given us some military hardware. We are more concerned with the
orphans, a chance for them not to lose the opportunity for education.
Some progress is being made on the ground.”
Railway project “`By
second quarter of 2016, we will take the Chinese contractors back to
continue with the railway project,’’ the president said.
Fuel subsidy,
“We will not be talking about subsidy by the end of first quarter next year.
“I hope that our refineries will be working. We cannot do it overnight, but that is our priority now to get them working.
Jobs
“All these things will take time. We
said during our campaign that we will diversify the economy to
agriculture and solid minerals.
“ We are hoping that these sectors will generate jobs and our budget has shown that we will focus on those sectors.
“Also, we have focused on education and other key sectors of the economy.
“Some investors are ready to come and
invest in those sectors but our problem is to secure this country
first,’’ the president said.
Employment
“We said agriculture and solid minerals
are the easiest way to get people employed and our budget would show
that. We have virtually all forms of solid minerals across Nigeria.
“We would employ youth, give them crash programme on Education and send them to teach at Primary schools.”
Refineries/subsidy
“Our priority now is to get our
refineries working. By the time we finish what we are doing, 60 per cent
of the allocation of crude oil for local refining and 40 per cent would
be used for crude oil swap. Previous government failed to maintain four
refineries, pump stations and pipelines, at a time oil was sold at over
$100 per barrel. By the end of next quarter, you will not be talking of
subsidy. The price is so low that there is no need to subsidise
anything.”
Devaluation of naira
“I will not support devaluation of the
Naira. I need to be convinced that there is need for the country to
devalue the Naira. Is it against the dollar or pound? We have our
priorities. To provide money to fund the projects we have already
outlined, and not for those who want hard currency to import textile and
toothpick.”
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