Obasanjo’s criticism: Buhari’ll defeat Atiku comprehensively — Lai Muhammed

Federal Government declared on Monday that President Muhammadu Buhari would beat his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) roundly and comprehensively in the 2019 elections.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who stated this while addressing newsmen said in reply to Obasanjo’s criticisms of the Buhari government that while the former President was free to support anyone he wanted, the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket would beat the PDP candidate “roundly and comprehensively.”

The Minister also insisted that the reasons contained in Buhari’s letter to the National Assembly in which he rejected the 2018 electoral Act amendment bill were cogent enough.

According to him, the veto of the electoral bill was not aimed at rigging the election, adding that the President was sure were beating the PDP candidate.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had in a statement widely used in the media on Monday attacked the Buhari administration adding that he would not sit on the fence on the forthcoming elections.

 He had said: “Only a fool will sit on the fence or be neutral when his or her country is being destroyed with incompetence, corruption, lack of focus, insecurity, nepotism, brazen impunity and denial of the obvious.”

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Lai Mohammed, however, said on Monday that Obasanjo was entitled to support any candidate.

He said: “With due respect to former President Obasanjo it is his constitutional right to support any candidate of his choice. We urge him to go out and campaign vigorously for any candidate that he wants to support.

“I don’t think the former President has hidden his preference for the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. We wish him the best of luck. But I want to assure you that his candidate will be defeated roundly and comprehensively.

“It is not about endorsement, the endorsement doesn’t win elections. We wish him the best of luck.”

He insisted that the Buhari government has fought corruption more than any government in the past.

He insisted: “I am always a bit apprehensive when you are responding to criticisms from a former President and the calibre of President Obasanjo who I have a lot of respect for . But the facts are all there. On corruption, this government has done more than any government in the history of this country to fight corruption.

“Corruption is endemic, it is global. But when you look at the kind of institutional reforms this government has put in place you cannot doubt its sincerity or commitment to fighting corruption.”

He added: “Corruption is not just about prosecuting and jailing people , it is more about what has been put in place to prevent people from looting the treasury. This is where this government has done more than any government did in the history of this country.

“I will start with the TSA, it was not initiated by this government but it is only this government that mustered the political courage and will to implement it. Before we came in there were over 22, 000 various accounts of government in various banks in Nigeria. Since we came in we reduced them to one single treasury account. From 2015 to date, N8.9 trillion has passed through that TSA.

“At a glance you know where every revenue and receipt of government is. It makes for transparency, accountability.

“Secondly, this government put in a strategy which is a roadmap for all the anti-corruption agencies on how to tackle corruption.”

He added that through the NAM commission based strategy which helps the government to recover looted funds without convicting the people, the EFCC has been able to recover N794bn, $ 261m, €8m, £1.115 m , 295 vehicles and 407 mansions. They are in federal government kitty, in form of permanent forfeiture.

He added: “In tackling corruption, this government has introduced what is called an efficiency unit in the Ministry of Finance. This unit examines every proposal to travel, estacode. It is on record that this government has saved N17bn from travel expenses, gifts etc.

“Under this government, more revenues now come into government than before. I can give an example of JAMB. Between 2010 and 2015, JAMB paid into the federation account the sum of N51m. In 2017 alone, under this administration, Jamb paid N7 .8bn into the federation account.”

“Another thing this government has done to ensure that there is transparency and that corruption is fought effectively is that today, as opposed to what used to happen in the past, there is a whistleblowing policy.

“N8.1 trillion was missing in the federation account between 2010 and 2015. They were supposed to have been paid in by 15 revenue generating agencies. The whistle-blowing policy has been hugely successful. The government has been able to rake in N13.8bn from whistleblowing policy alone, N7.8bn from corrupt officials.”

“So when you look at what we have put on the ground, institutional remedies, you agree with us that this government is more sincere and more committed to fighting corruption than any government in the history of the country.

“If the former president says the government is not performing I think he is not being properly briefed. We promised Nigerians that we are going to diversify the economy and one area where we have had resounding success in the area of food security.”

While speaking on the President’s refusal to assent the electoral bill, Lai Mohammed said that it is within the President’s powers to decline assent, adding that the opposition is crying wolf where there is none.

He said: “I think Mr President has already communicated the National Assembly why he is not signing that bill. If I remember, one of the reasons he did not sign the bill is that signing it at this point in time will create confusion and will not make for clarity.

“We are waiting for the response of the National Assembly on this matter. He pointed out certain errors which he felt the National Assembly should look into.

“You can see that PDP and the opposition are already preparing excuses for their eventual defeat. It will range from the Electoral Act to trader money. From there they will start saying that we are bribing children by one meal a day

“We are investing in our children

He accused the opposition of deploying fake news to discredit the Federal Government ahead of the 2019 election.

He said “In the last one week alone three fake news has been credited to me. One said that I said that the President could no longer speak and understand Fulfude, his mother tongue because of the surgery he underwent in London which affected his ability to speak the language and it has affected his ability to remember anything.”

He further said: “What bothers me is that it is not going to stop. In the days and weeks ahead, in the run-up to the 2019 election, people will hear more incredulous fake news. This is simply because the opposition has run out of ideas. They know that they cannot debate on issues, they have resorted to fabricating fake news.

“As a matter of fact, we have it on good authority that it is the only weapon left in their arsenal and they are going to use it devastatingly.”