BUBA Galadima, former National Secretary of the now defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) says there is no basis for people to refer to President Muhammadu Buhari as a person of integrity.
The CPC was one of the parties that came together in a merger to form the now ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the run-up to the 2015 general election. It was on the platform of the CPC that Buhari contested and lost the election.
However, Galadima has since left the APC. In fact, he was the one who formed the Reformed-APC (RAPC), a split that led to the defection of many of the party’s former members to other parties.
Speaking on a Channels Television programme on Wednesday, a clip of which was shared on Twitter, Galadima said Buhari has no integrity because he continues to condone corrupt people around him and has chosen to look the other way as his relatives enrich thems via corrupt ways.
“I can’t see any integrity whatsoever on the side of Mr President. Which integrity?” Galadima queried.
“Somebody who condones corrupt people around him? We know of his relatives, we know of his friends who were bankrupt before 2015. We know of his relatives who take N2000 transport money from us to go to Kaduna, today, they are multibillionaires. They have assets, they have estates all over the world.
“I can show anybody that wants to know.
“So, the issue of integrity with this government is not an issue. Go to Daura GRA (Government Reserved Area), all the houses that are looking like, you go there and you feel like you are in Dubai, or you are in London, or you are in Beirut, are built by whom? To whom do those properties belong?
“So please, I don’t want anybody, any APC man to talk to me about integrity. Please, this should be the last time anybody that is engaging me in a debate will talk about integrity. I will take them to the marketplace.”
Opposition political parties have consistently accused the presidency of carrying out a one-sided anti-corruption campaign. They say the president has deliberately turned a blind eye to several acts of corruption by members of his own party.
An example is the case of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, who was found guilty by a panel headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo of awarding contracts worth several millions of naira to a company he owns.
It was on the basis of the Osinbajo panel report that Lawal was removed from office, but many had expected the matter to be taken up by the anti-corruption agencies to prosecute the matter to a logical end, and perhaps to serve as a strong deterrence to other top government officials. But this has not happened.
On the contrary, Lawal is currently one of the APC chieftains coordinating Buhari’s re-election campaign.