Buhari under pressure

Pressure is mounting  on President Muhammadu Buhari  to  kick start his clampdown on oil thieves following  his recent admission that he now has in his possession a list of such thieves.


Buhari, addressing Nigerians during his just concluded trip to the United States, had announced that Washington gave him the list.

He said  that some members of the Jonathan Federal Executive Council stole as much as  250000 barrels of crude daily.

Several  Western countries including  the United Kingdom and France are said to have reached out to him to waste no further time in bringing the suspects to book.Nigerians are also  itching  to know the identities of the oil thieves .

A cross section of prominent Nigerians say President Buhri should make the names public forthwith and prosecute them.

Frontline lawyer,Professor  Itse Sagay (SAN)  told The Nation yesterday that he  shocked by  the magnitude of the stealing.

“Before this fresh revelation, one was very disturbed when Okonjo Iweala, raised the alarm that about 400, 000 barrels were being stolen every day. To hear that the quantity is as much as  one  million barrel per day is something else,” he said.


Also shocked by the revelation is Chief Ladi Williams (SAN) who said:  “the President should make public everything about it because the oil they stole belongs to the good people of Nigeria.

The people have the right to know what is happening. “Some schools of thought have suggested  that the Chinese option should be applied in dealing with the suspects. It is a common knowledge that corrupt public officers in  China always end up being executed.


“The suspects should be made to produce the money they realised from the sales of the stolen products. Any of them that parts with a substantial part of the money should be leniently dealt with.


”Elder statesman  Tanko Yakassai said: “The president should not only tell us about the crime, he should go a step further to list the names of those involved in the criminal act and the amount involved.  He should get them arrested and prosecuted. The truth is that these atrocities didn’t start today. They started way back when Obasanjo was the head of state.“Key figures during that regime became instant multi-millionaires. There is not going to be any solution to the atrocities except the perpetrators are brought to book.  I want to appeal to President Muhhamadu Buhari not to limit the probe to the Jonathan administration. If he really wants to get to the root of the problem, he should go back to the days of Obasanjo as military head of state.

”Former Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Abubakar Tsav, expressed surprise at the revelation.

He said:“ “If the president’s statement is true, then, it is a serious matter. How can one person steal such quantity of crude oil? What are they using the money for when many people are hungry, homeless and sleeping under the bridge?“ The crime is capable of collapsing an economy of a developing country. The perpetrators don’t mean well for the country and should be severely dealt with.

“I don’t support death penalty, but the offence is worth it. I will suggest that they should be sent to 25 years or life imprisonment. If the suspects are not fished out and dealt with, there would be a big challenge if Buhari is not re-elected after four years. If Buhari is not elected and another government that is worse than Jonathan’s come tom power, the country would be worse for it.

“If I were Jonathan, I would be ashamed of myself and refrain from making any comment. I think he should also be probed  because  it was before his very eyes that all this rots was  taking place and he did nothing to stop it.”

The Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos State chapter, Joe Igbokwe, said more sad revelations of the activities of government officials in the Jonathan’s administration are coming.

According to him, “What Nigerians are hearing and seeing now will be a child’s play when the full story of how Nigeria was pillaged and plundered under Jonathan is told.

“In the fullness of time Nigerians will get to find out that former President Jonathan’s tenure was a systematic regime of heists. I am believing God that President Buhari will have the energy, strength and power to go the whole hog in repositioning Nigeria in the comity of civilized nations. Nigeria is getting better and this, l believe because a good man is in charge.”