One of the campaign pillars of the Buhari administration is the fight against corruption but it has all been motion without movement. With the absence of a Minister of Information, Governor Oshiomhole seem to have arrogated to himself the unenviable role of the attack dog and Propaganda Minister of the Buhari regime.
The various unsubstantiated claims by Governor Oshiomhole are, in all honesty, eroding his once cherished brand image. His unrivaled gifts of oratory and elocution, which used to be huge assets are embarrassingly becoming image eroders.
It is no longer news that the Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole on Monday alleged that he was told by an unnamed United States government official that a Minister in the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan stole a whopping sum of $6 billion.
Unfortunately, Governor Oshiomhole neither named the US official who furnished him with the information nor the former Minister who allegedly stole the gigantic amount of money.
It is also curious that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will treat such a weighty allegation insouciantly. One would have expected that armed with such mind-boggling information, the matter would have been handed over to the security agencies for thorough investigation and prosecution.
Instead of following due process, what we are having is media trial of the unidentified Minister and politicisation of what should have been an opportunity to recover part of the $150 billion allegedly stolen by government officials in the past ten years.
It would be recalled that President Buhari himself made the $150 billion allegation during his recent visit to the United States of America. Like Governor Oshiomhole, President Buhari is said to have gotten the information from unnamed American officials.
According to one of the Spokesmen of the President Mallam Garba Shehu in an interview with Daily Trust: “… the international system has no place to hide for the rogue, whether he is a Nigerian rogue or South African or European. The world would see you and they will catch you. We just came from America and from the information that they gave the President they believe that Nigeria loses between $10 billion and $20 billion every year in the oil sector alone. Now if you are talking about a 10-year period, that money could well be over $150 billion. Buhari is simply saying, I am not begging the world for money; he did not go begging. He is saying help us to recover this money and we will be okay. So it could be well over $150billion”.
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