The decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to launder the image of the late dictator and former head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha has drawn flanks from many Nigerians, with a pro-democracy group describing it as the anticlimax of the administration’s anti-corruption crusade.
The group, Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution (CDNDC) said it was not surprised the President has decided to “re-launch a pro-Abacha defence,” ten years after he made a similar comment exonerating him of corruption.
While noting that the President has become uncomfortable with the criticisms of the Abachas over the recently returned Abacha loot back to the country, which sometimes attract Buhari’s name, the coalition in a statement by its Convener, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, said Buhari has always been a great beneficiary of corruption networks.
“Ten years ago in Kano State at a remembrance prayer for Gen. Sani Abacha, President Buhari defended and exonerated the late dictator of corruption; but 10 years after, Buhari is the one receiving into the country, money stolen by a man who presided over a government in which he served.
“ We consider the latest attempt to polish, launder and re-launch a pro-Abacha defence as a defeatist face-saving measure to distract Nigerians from how he participated in a regime that looted the country dry and plunder it resources beyond imagination.
“This is the real case of corruption fighting back from high places, as President Buhari has effectively ended his own anti-corruption crusade on sour note, and anything after this, is nothing more than a mere charade.
“There was never any sincerity of purpose in Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign from the onset. It was about witch-hunting perceiving enemies and using the narrative to deceive the people,” the statement added.
