P&ID: Anti-corruption War Separates Buhari’s Administration From Past Govts – Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has noted that the unfolding events trailing the Process and Industrial Development(P&ID) case are proof that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is honest with its anti-corruption drive.

Mohammed, speaking on a Nigeria Television Authority programme on Tuesday, claimed that previous governments allowed corrupt practices to thrive.

He claimed that with the latest developments in the P&ID case, Buhari was closing the gap on corruption.

“This is the major difference between this administration and previous administrations, we are ready to interrogate and even beam the searchlight on our own selves.

“What transpired with P&ID would have been impossible with this administration,” he said.

Recall that the UK High Court had granted Nigeria’s application for an extension of time to seek possible upturning of the $10 billion judgment awarded to P&ID.

Mohammed said that the federal government was able to crush the perception floated by P&ID on various public domains.

“This is precisely what we did, we knew that this matter would be won in two courts; the court of law and the court of public opinion.

“That is why we went to the UK and visited and put our case across in at least 20 major outlets, led by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN, Central Bank of Nigeria, to plead our case and that’s how we were able to change the narrative.

“We countered the policies that P&ID had hired.

“We went to the extent of revealing the background of the original owners of P&ID, one of them was a bank manager,” he said.

Mohammed also alleged that P&ID were simply bent on defrauding the country and that some Nigerians also helped them out.

“These are the kind of things we were able to unravel and to persuade the public that we are dealing with crooks, pure and simple.

“If proper due diligence has been done and I also agree with the AGF that if not because people had an agenda and they already compromised; a simple search, due diligence on P&ID would have revealed the kind of persons they are.

“This is a company with no physical address , this is a company with no track record anywhere, or in oil and gas and yet came into Nigeria because this was an area where anything was possible,” he said.

The UK Commercial Court will, in the coming weeks, hear Nigeria’s argument regarding the setting aside of the P&ID award.