Buhari shielding his loyalists, says Fayose

Ekiti State Gover­nor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to stop acting like the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria by shielding his men from probe, just as he asked Nigerians to demand the release of the authentic report of the Commit­tee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procure­ment in the Nigerian Armed Forces.
He described claim by the Federal Government that the probe panel only looked into pro­curement and contracts awarded by the military between 2011-2015 be­cause documents re­garding procurement from 2007 to 2010 were not available as a clear indication of his support for corruption.

In a statement issued on Sunday by his Spe­cial Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olay­inka, Gov Fayose said, “It is now obvious to the entire world that anyone that is in President Bu­hari’s good books can never be adjudged as corrupt even if such a person is caught looting the entire money in Ni­geria’s treasury.”
The governor said it smacked of sheer hy­pocrisy and nepotism for anyone to accept that fraud could have been perpetrated on procurement and award of contracts in an estab­lishment without the in­volvement of the direc­tor of procurement.
“There are many peti­tions relating to Defence from 2007 that are been discarded, the question is why? There are sev­eral petitions against APC leaders that are not being looked into, the question is why?
“Fghting corruption and targeting only op­ponents of the President is in itself corruption”, he said.
“It is a fact that the committee in its terms of reference said it queried all procurement from 2007 to 2015. Even the press release issued was titled; ‘Third Interim Report of the Presiden­tial Committee on Audit of Defence Equipment Procurement from 2007 to 2015.’
“Like I and other well-meaning Nigerians have maintained, fighting corruption is a good idea but the moment docu­ments of probe panels are being doctored to shield those seen as the President’s men, the en­tire purpose of the cor­ruption fight has been defeated.”