Malam Garba Shehu, spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, has taken a swipe at ex-Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, over a recent claim he made about his principal.
Adoke who sat for an interview with Adesua Giwa-Osagie, said he was a victim of corruption allegations in Buhari’s administration even though he was the “most incompetent President that this country has ever had and will never have again”.
The former AGF said;
“I have been a victim of corruption allegations by the immediate past government. The most incompetent government we’ve ever seen in this country; ran by the most incompetent President that this country has ever had and will never have again. And ran by a set of political morons.”
Reacting to this, Garba Shehu stated that the cases cited by Adoke as a reference point of corruption were cases that originated from a government in which he himself was the man responsible for the administration of justice.
Shehu said in a statement;
“Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adokie has been enjoying a spotlight, masquerading as an anti-corruption character in a skit for which he is ill-suited. He neither has the track record nor the moral standing to accuse anyone of corruption, not least the former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The fact that this character is a free man, walking away from the industrial-corruption their administration foisted on the 200 million-plus Nigerians is an Eighth Wonder. So vast was its scale, it is today a subject of international scrutiny. That should be a script for a Nollywood/Kannywood blockbuster all by itself.
“Most outrageously, the cases cited by Adokie as a reference point of corruption were cases that originated from an administration in which he himself was the man responsible for the administration of justice.
“The contract and incidental judgment in the Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) were inherited by the Buhari administration. To his credit, President Buhari succeeded in staying its execution even when the previous administration that was responsible for the creation of the liability watched helplessly and exposed Nigeria to over $10bn dollars liability.
“Paris club saga that Adokie cited as an example of corrupt practices of the Buhari administration is not in any way different in origin and circumstances with the case of P&ID. It was rooted in administrations that predated that of President Muhammadu Buhari. Adokie was a product of the administration that planted the evil foundation and the judgments that resulted therefrom.
“The logical conclusion any reasonable person can make on P&ID, Paris Club and Ajaokuta is that President Buhari came on a rescue mission and effectively saved Nigeria from corrupt undertones that were planted to expose its economy to imminent collapse.
“The success of the Buhari administration in the direction of the fight against corruption is unprecedented. New legislations were introduced, major recoveries were made at home, stolen monies were repatriated from abroad, and they were judiciously deployed in infrastructure development. High profile convictions were recorded in unprecedented numbers, with enhanced percentages over and above the records in existence.
“It is in international recognition of these efforts that the African Union chose the former President as its African Continental Anti-Corruption Champion. Additional recognitions by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Corruption, UNODC among others were also lauded on the former president and his administration.