The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to stop at throwing a jibe at former President Olusegun Obasanjo for spending $16bn on power projects as he held sway as the President but must go a step further by instituting a public probe of the power spending and other expenditure during Obasanjo’s tenure.
While reacting to comment credited to President Buhari that despite the huge expenditure, there was no corresponding power supply to Nigerians, the CNPP Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu in a statement noted that one of the ways to give the anti-graft position of the President Buhari government a meaning is when he openly probes the Obasanjo administration.
“We expect President Buhari to institute a full-scale public inquiry into the spending on power by former President Obasanjo’s administration. This will give teeth to his anti-graft war.
“His administration’s concentration on one particular administration, while leaving the ones before the former President Goodluck Jonathan government has been the reason for our doubt of the sincerity in his war against corruption.
“Although President Buhari did not mention any name, he was widely quoted as saying that a former Nigerian leader was bragging at a time that his administration spent $16bn on power sector, yet there was nothing to show for it.
“Therefore, if the President knows what we don’t know, it is time to prove to Nigerians that he is really fighting corruption.
“We now call on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately begin the probe and assure all Nigerians that he is not selective on his anti-graft war.
“Mr. President must equally probe members of his own cabinet fingered in corruption cases to make his war on corruption total,” CNPP said.