President Muhammadu Buhari in his interview with The Interview magazine, said that he will not spare any member or supporter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, caught in any act of corruption, emphatically stating that members of his party that “anything is established against he will not be shielded from prosecution.”
The President defended his administration’s style of government which has earned him the nick name Baba go slow. “There is still a lot of wisdom in the saying, ‘slow and steady wins the race.’ “If they say we are slow, do they also say we are steady? “Then, it means we will win the race eventually. “There is no wisdom in being in a rush and messing up everything. You will make avoidable mistakes and end up with a lot of regrets,”.
On Prosecution of Corrupt persons
“Do you just grab people along the road and take them off to court for trial just because you want to create a semblance of balance?” Buhari said.
“First, there has to be an accusation which must be properly investigated, and when a prima facie case has been built, you prosecute.
“If any of my backers or party (APC) members has anything established against them, let’s see whether I will shield anyone from prosecution.
“There seems to be a preponderance of the People Democratic Party members standing trial because they had been in power for 16 years, they had access to the public treasury and abused the trust reposed in them.
“You can be assured that anybody caught in corruption will answer for it irrespective of party, tribe or religion.
“You will recall that shortly before the 2011 presidential election, I had said it was the last time I would offer myself for elective position and I meant it, but the following years, we saw our country virtually falling apart on all fronts.
“People felt a rescue exercise was necessary and a large number believed I could do it.
“They made overtures to me and the pressure was so enormous that I could not say no. As they say, the rest is history.
“We will note the recommendation of the Attorney General of the Federation. We do not want to deliberately disgrace people. All we want is public money back,” he explained.
On Economic Realities
“The economic realities demanded that we merge ministries and we did. “Putting three critical ministries under one man was determined by the ability to perform. “This is a man who had ruled a state excellently for eight years and as they say, the reward for hard work is more work,” he said.
