Buhari should make campaign funds public – Nigerian Pilot

The recent remarks credited to President Muhammadu Buhari that he would not shield any corrupt member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from trial is perhaps cheering even though it is coming late.
Coming to make a stand on issue at this time may have also arisen from pressures of the people’s court of public opinion as well as demands from opposition that the corruption war was becoming obviously selective, a claim even the president’s argument cannot vitiate. Whichever way the President’s position is viewed on this matter by either side of the divide, in a recent interview he granted a magazine, President Buhari declared that he will not shield members of the All Progressive Congers (APC) and those who supported his candidature during the 2015 presidential election if any of them was involved in corrupt practices.
“If any of my backers or party (APC) members has anything established against them, let’s see whether I will shield anyone from prosecution,@ he vowed.
The President also faulted claims that he had been sparing those who sponsored his campaigns and members of his party in the administration’s current anti-corruption war.
According to him, it was a misnomer to just whisk people away to courts for trial just to make a balance of trial without establishing any fraudulent practice/s against them.
We recall that on that occasion, he asked; “do you just grab people along the road and take them off to court for trial just because you want to create a semblance of balance?” .
To the president it must be first things first; there has to be an accusation which must be properly investigated, and when a prima facie case has been built, you prosecute.
Still pressing home his point, Buhari explained that the predominance of PDP members facing anti graft trials ostensibly is because they held sway for 16 years in governance of the country and may have pilfered the treasury.
“There seems to be a preponderance of the People Democratic Party members standing trial because they had been in power for 16 years, they had access to the public treasury and abused the trust reposed in them, again he pointed, assuring nonetheless that anybody caught in corruption will answer for it irrespective of party, tribe or religion.
In any case the president spoke well, and his thoughts and perspectives on this age long issue that has become so much divisive and topical in national conversation platforms are remarkable and commendable. Many Nigerians still believe that the war against corruption is being fought one sided; while for others, principally those in the ruling party, don’t hold this view.
But further on the fact that the President may have broken a long silence on the debatable subject matter that predisposes selectivity, there are questions Mr. President should answer if Nigerians must give fillip to this remarks or believe in his sincerity of mind and purpose that the ongoing trials only of PDP members and their allies is because they are the only ones culpable. Interestingly we beg to ask, is the President not worried looking back, how much was expended on his campaigns: and how the funds were raised.
He owes Nigerians this duty to explain and as a man integrity let him tell us who and who, how much state by state, governor by governor, friends of Buhari, the organized private sector contributed to his campaign and the sources these fund were raised from so that we can begin to determine whether they are slush funds or not . This is because as our President and a public figure, and going by the towering magnitude the subject matter has assumed, the time to come out with details of how his campaign was funded by how much and who, is now, if not, nobody will believe that Buhari is not shielding some APC big wigs, after all majority of his political backers and new friends were sitting and past governors who are not known -genuine and successful business men before he went into the 2015 presidential contest.
Save for the fact too that so much money may have been expended by his financiers to remove a serving president and its party that stole for 16years to enable him coast easily to victory, that assumption follows logic that to remove an incumbent government that embezzled so much, the rival or winning party must have put ten times what the PDP government stole from our common wealth to rout it from power.
So, we hold that it is wise counsel for Mr. President to now open up once and for all and tell the world how much and who gave money for his campaign so as to determine if actually he is shielding any APC member or not from prosecution. If he is honourable enough to oblige Nigerians this request, then it will further tell among his sponsors, who should face the wrath of the law if actually they were found to have dipped their hands in the wrong till. This is the best way to come to equity if what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander and not sheer postulation.