$16bn Power Project: No Plans To Probe Obasanjo – Buhari

In the light of reports that he may probe former President Olusegun Obasanjo for allegedly mismanaging $16 billion electricity fund while in power, President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted in the negative.

Against the speculations that stemmed from remarks he recently made at the State House on Tuesday, asking “Where was the power after a former president claimed to have spent $16 billion on the project?,” President Buhari refuted any plans to prosecute the former president.

The refutation was made in a phone interview by the Senior Special Adviser to President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, during Channels TV’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Thursday.

Buhari’s query had drawn reactions from all corners, with some notable Nigerians calling for the constitution of an independent panel to investigate Obasanjo.

“The power sector is too important a determinant of the level of productivity and competitiveness of each Nigerian, business and country as a whole to be mired in unresolved controversy among the political class,” former Education Minister, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili had said in a tweet on Wednesday.

“Let’s have an independent expert panel inaugurated to investigate. The “$16Billion Power Sector expenditure allegation” has a way of always surfacing for public debate whenever there are squabbles within the political circle.

“I wish to assert that it is time for citizens to demand independent and exhaustive expert investigation of that matter,” Ezekwesili added.

Meanwhile, President Buhari’s allegation against the former president was received with some harsh reactions.

Dr Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation, had said the mistake Obasanjo made while in power was failing not to prosecute and jail President Buhari for allegedly looting the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) when he headed the agency in 1995.

On his part, Reno Omokri, a media aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, called the president “an ungrateful ignoramus” for attacking Obasanjo who he claimed helped Nigeria offset its debt when he was at the helm of the country’s affairs.