JUST IN: Why EFCC May Soon Arrest, Probe Obasanjo
There is a likely tendency that the Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC may summon ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo for questioning on an uncompleted project.
It’s a common happenstance in Nigeria that the anti-graft agency swings into action of investigations whenever the Federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari raises a topic of corruption on a subject matter.
Receiving the Buhari Support Organisation led by the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali at the State House today, the president partly hinted on why the former President Olusegun Obasanjo may be questioned over the spending of $16 billion on power projects during his administration.
Although Buhari failed to categorically mention Obasanjo’s name but his insinuation sold him out.
On the power project under Obasanjo’s regimes between 1999 and 2006, Buhari queried saying: “where was the power after a former president claimed to have spent $16 billion on the project?”
“You know the rail was killed and one of the former heads of state was bragging that he spent more than 15 billion American dollars on power. Where is the power? Where is the power?” he further asked.
The power project was done during the
Obasanjo administration (1999-2006). It has been described as mismanagement of public funds by observers and civic groups.
The House of Representatives in 2008 described the $16 billion spent on power by the Obasanjo government as colossal waste.
The House said the expenditure was a case of “poor budget planning and a lack of proper oversight by relevant bodies.”
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had in 2016 also urged the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria at the time, Walter Onnoghen, to immediately appoint an independent counsel to investigate the allegations of corruption in the spending of the $16 billion by the Obasanjo government.
