Buhari: I Can’t Be Blackmailed over Illicit Enrichment, Inexplicable Wealth

•Says he has no investment, property outside Nigeria 

•Insists he has fulfilled his promise to tackle Boko Haram

•Vows to serve God, country till last day in office 

•Promises to remain in Nigeria after May 

•We’re not a rubber stamp N’Assembly,  Lawan insists

Deji Elumoye and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that no individual or group can accuse him of corruptly enriching himself since he assumed office as a civilian president on May 29, 2015.

The president, according to a statement issued yesterday by his Media Adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, spoke on Monday night at a banquet in his honour in Damaturu, Yobe State capital.

According to the statement, Buhari said nobody could blackmail him on inexplicable wealth and illicit enrichment while in office.

He added that ‘‘I do not have one square-inch outside Nigeria.’’

According to him, “one thing that I am grateful to God for is that nobody can blackmail me. I do not have one-square inch outside Nigeria and I intend to stay in Nigeria when I retire from public office.’’

Buhari reiterated his vow to serve God and Nigeria until his last day in office and beyond.

This is coming as the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, has insisted that the ninth National Assembly did not operate like a rubber stamp in its collaborations with the executive.

Buhari advised Nigerians to remain patriotic, saying, “as I said more than 30 years ago, we have no other country than Nigeria; we must all stay here and salvage it together.”

Noting that the most critical security challenge inherited by the administration nearly eight years ago was the potent and pervasive threat of terrorism, the president expressed delight that normalcy has returned to affected states in the North-east.

He recalled that the threat was particularly pervasive across the North-east geopolitical zone with Yobe State as one of the most hit by the terrorists.

Buhari therefore declared that he has fulfilled the commitment he made to Nigerians in his May 29, 2015 inaugural address to frontally and courageously tackle Boko Haram terrorists and stabilise the country.

He said after decimating the Boko Haram insurgents in the North east and the economy picking up, his administration has a challenge of fighting corruption unlike the situation when he was a military Head of State in the 1970s.

“In the North-east, God has helped us to clear Boko Haram; the economy has picked up and some people are asking me about the achievements of my promise to fight corruption.

‘‘Well, under this system, fighting corruption is not easy. When I was in the military, as Head of State, I locked up some people because the Constitution says you must declare your assets and people who couldn’t explain the differences in their assets, I locked them up.

‘‘In the end, I was also locked up. So, if you want to serve this country you must be prepared for the worst,” Buhari added.

Buhari commended Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State for taking advantage of the return of peace and security in the state to execute people-oriented projects.

He also acknowledged the cooperation of Nigeria’s neighbours in the fight against insurgency, recalling that his first visit outside the country in 2015 was to Niger and Chad, to garner support on tackling the misguided sect.

Earlier in his remarks, Governor Buni expressed delight at the president’s inauguration of landmark projects in the state, including the Yobe International Cargo Airport, Damaturu ultra-modern market, Maternal and Child Health Complex at the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital, the 2600 Housing Estate in Potiskum and the Damaturu Mega School at new Bra-Bra.

He appealed to the president to approve the takeover of the Yobe State International Cargo airport by the federal government and the refund of N38 billion expended by the state government on the project.

The governor equally requested the takeover of the state University Teaching Hospital, including the Maternity and Child Health Complex by the federal government.

Also speaking, the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Usman Alkali Baba, thanked the president for inaugurating a purpose-built, ultra-modern, and fully furnished State Police Command Headquarters; Police Secondary School; and Tertiary Police Hospital during the state visit.

The IG assured the president and Nigerians that the Nigeria Police are fully prepared for the upcoming 2023 general election and would remain apolitical in compliance with the presidential directive.

He added that the Force has also perfected the logistics and manpower mobilisation framework, and fine-tuned the Election Security Operational Action Plan in conjunction with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the military, intelligence community, and other sister security agencies.

In his remarks at the ceremony, the Senate President, Lawan, insisted that the ninth National Assembly did not operate like a rubber stamp in its collaborations with the executive.

He said the lawmakers passed many complicated legislations because Buhari gave them all the support they needed to do their work.

Lawan, according to a statement by his Special Adviser (Media), Ola Awoniyi, was quoted to have said: “In all my years in the National Assembly, I have never worked with any president who never asked that he wanted things done a certain way but I want to admit here that Mr. President, you have never asked me to do anything. You believe we should do what is best for our country.

 “And when I said that we will continue to work with the executive arm of government, ensuring that the national interest is always our guide and focus, our opposition took me out of context.

“Some of them started writing that we are rubber stamps, that whatever is brought to the National Assembly will be approved. I want to say here, that President Muhammadu Buhari never asked anything that is not in the national interest.

“And at the risk of being misquoted by the press, we all know who our president is before he became President and while he is still president. Nigeria, Nigeria, Nigeria is his focus, his concern. And that is why we believe that we should continue to work with him. We should support him.”

Speaking further, the Senate President said: “And in the ninth National Assembly, we have supported the executive arm of government fully because we believe this is one president, one administration, one government that has come to deliver Nigeria, from what happened in 16 years, from mis-governance by, of course, the PDP.

“Today, Mr. President, I am proud to say that we have achieved so much working with you in the ninth National Assembly.

“We have passed the most difficult bills; we have passed the most complicated legislations. This is because you gave us all the support that we needed to do our work in the National Assembly.”

Lawan  also urged the president to consider the establishment of Gum Arabic Research Institute in Yobe and deploy resources to develop the livestock industry before his exit from power in May.

Lawan said: “Mr. President, Yobe State, like Borno, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, is in this Gum Arabic Zone. Gum Arabic is a cash crop that gave support to our people before. It is no more giving that support.

“Mr. President, if there is one way that we can diversify our economy, Gum Arabic should be given a special position in our administration.

“And I want to say that this belt, from Borno to Sokoto, if we work on the Gum Arabic industry, we are going to earn foreign exchange for Nigeria.

“We spent billions of Naira, hundreds of millions of dollars to import Gum Arabic from other countries. We can do a lot more if we can get the support of the federal government.

“Your Excellency, we already have a sub-station in Kajuwa, part of Yobe State. That sub-station is rather a research institute sub-station. That research institute is based in Benin, Edo state.

“Mr. President, my belief is that Gum Arabic has that important economic value that deserves its separate research institute because it can transform our country.

“So on behalf of all our people and on behalf of other states, Mr President, I want to urge that before you leave on 29th of May, 2023, let us see how we can make the sub-station in Kajuwa to be the headquarters of the new Gum Arabic Research Institute.”

 “The second issue is the issue of livestock development. Mr President, when you said you will support the livestock industry, some people said it’s private business. They shouldn’t be supported.

“There is nothing more private than someone setting up a bank, killing the bank and then the obnoxious loans will now be taken over by AMCON. AMCON today has about N6 trillion of toxic loans on our head.

“Mr. President, the livestock industry in Nigeria especially between Borno, Sokoto and of course, Yobe is an economy that is worth N33 trillion.

“Incidentally, the poorest states are in this zone. Where you have a potential of N33 trillion economy, we have no reason to be poor. Mr. President, I want to urge you that before you leave, let’s deploy some resources to develop the livestock industry.

“We in the National Assembly will support you because we believe that our livestock industry can give us a lot more economic stability because our people will benefit economically and in fact can be another source of billions of revenue generation in Nigeria.

“So on behalf of those of us from this part, from Borno to Sokoto and indeed up to Rivers because almost every part of Nigeria has some livestock, Mr. President, let’s devote some resources. I don’t know how we can get it, but about N300 billion  can do some magic.

“Our state, the Yobe State, is always ready to provide land for grazing reserves and whatever. Any state that desires to participate in livestock development, the federal government should support that state. Any state that doesn’t  want; let that state stay away.

“But we shouldn’t deprive states that are prepared to work with the federal government to develop the livestock industry in Nigeria.”