The Labour Party (LP) yesterday challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to extend his probe of past government functionaries to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, his then vice, Abubakar Atiku, and Senate President Bukola Saraki. It said that this is necessary for his anti-corruption crusade to be taken serious.

The party also asked Buhari to probe the Halliburton scandal and former state governors who are now Senators, to enable Nigerians know the true position of things.

The National Chairman of LP, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, stated this in an interview with journalists in Abuja.

He said: “I want to refer to the statement of the President when he said that looters’ trial will begin very soon. Firstly, I want to state that it is a welcome idea and development in our fight against corruption, but the fundamental question is; what are the pragmatic mechanism put in place by the Buhari administration and the APC to fight corruption? What is the blue print?

“Buhari has to evolve a special means of fighting this corruption because the corruption we are talking about involves many people in high places. Fighting corruption must be comprehensive, not selective, not discriminatory, not biased and must be total and holistic.

“Fighting corruption must involve previous leaders, including ex-President Obasanjo, ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former governors. If former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, is still languishing in jail in Great Britain, then governors who served and are known to have looted this country, in whatever political party, should not be spared.

“It is not proper that people would loot our money only to use the same money to recycle themselves and become our leaders again; it should not be allowed to happen.

“Buhari should know that Nigerians elected him because of his previous pedigree and should retain that sincerity of purpose to fight corruption and for this singular reason, he must go all out to fight corruption.

“At his age, he has nothing to fear. The corruption fight should involve Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Joshua Dariye, Bukola Saraki and all those governors now in the Senate who are found to have looted our resources must be prosecuted. He should not limit the fight to only the NNPC.

“During the Obasanjo era, there was this PTDF scandal; he should go into that and probe it properly. I subscribe to the fact that everybody who has been petitioned should be probed. If EFCC must be honest and sincere to this country, they have the records of public officers who have served this country, they know who is a rogue and those that served diligently without tampering with public funds. A situation where salaries of workers have not been paid as a result of massive looting is unpardonable and should not be allowed to continue.

“Buhari should find out everything about Haliburton, he should let Nigerians know because Boko Haram insurgency is ongoing as a result of corruption in this country. People are enslaved today as a result of corruption in this country. Buhari should go all out to save and compensate Nigerians for appreciating what he did before by electing him to preside over the Nigerian State.”

•Photo shows Labour Party National Chairman, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam.

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