The Presidency, on Wednesday, disclosed that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has opened an Escrow Account into which funds recovered from those suspected to have looted the treasury would be paid.
Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu, who disclosed it in a statement made available to the State House correspondents in Abuja, also regretted criticisms targeted at the President for not fulfilling promises that the spokesman said he never made.
Speaking on the strides made by the President so far, especially on corruption, the statement said: “He is making good strides towards improving governance, by tackling corruption. To-date a good number of persons believed to have collectively stolen billions from the taxpayer have been arrested, and are facing the courts; we are working with our allies across the world – from Britain and America to France and Germany to China and UAE to source, locate and repatriate misappropriated funds. So far, an escrow account has been opened for money that is being returned.
“This is only the start: the return of stolen funds is important, but it is just as critical to ensure those who seek to steal realise that no longer will there be such impunity in Nigeria. Only by ending belief in such licence we can we fully institute the rule of law.”
The statement specifically addressed criticism contained in an article by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDS) which it said was peddling misleading information about Buhari’s promises that were not fulfilled after seven months in office.
It advised the group to “rise above petty partisanship and stop misleading Nigerians with blatantly false propaganda and misinformation to serve ulterior motives.”
The Presidency said it was very mischievous to attribute to the President promises he didn’t make during the campaign, and now hold him accountable for them.
According to Shehu, any honest advocacy for democracy should not include distortion of facts and a misrepresentation of what President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to deal with during the campaigns.
He explained that it was misleading to invent issues to suit one’s political bias and prejudice, and blame the President for not attending to those issues within one’s mischievous and chimerical deadline in order to play down the significant aspects of what the President has accomplished within those seven tough months.
