President Muhammad Buhari has reportedly received concrete evidence that his Chief of Staff (CoS), Abba Kyari, took N500m from operators of MTN to help the telecommunications giant reduce the fine imposed on it by the federal government. Sources say the evidence was presented to President Buhari several times including during the Sallah holiday.
Confronted with the evidence, the CoS reportedly claimed he was helping the All Progressives Congress (APC) party raise funds for the gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State, to which the president is said to have asked him if he was the party chairman, but did not relieve him of his post.The mind-boggling revelation is the latest in the mounting allegations of corruption involving members of the top echelon of President Buhari’s administration.
Other members of President Buhari’s inner circle have been exposed as engaging in serious cases of corruption but the President has not acted on their cases, either. In some instances, they reportedly got members of President Buhari’s office to absolve them of any “wrongdoing”.
Among others:
The Chief of Army Staff, Yusuf Buratai, was found to have used Nigerian Army funds to purchase homes in Dubai;
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Abdulrahman Dambazau, bought homes for millions of dollars in Boston in the United States;
Several other aides and officials within the government have been exposed for involvement in illegal employments and forgery of age and certificates.
Like Kyari, they have so far all been shielded by President Buhari. Speaking earlier this to journalists in Daura, his hometown, the president said his “anti-corruption war” was being implemented on the basis of justice and fairness.
SaharaReporters