his administration probed the accounts of the
Petroleum Trust Fund headed by the All Progressives
Congress presidential candidate, Maj. Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and found nothing
unpleasant.
Buhari headed the PTF, inaugurated in March 1995,
under the regime of the late dictator, Gen. Sani
Abacha. The PTF was established to manage the fund
accruable from the increase in the pump price of
Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise know as petrol, from
N3.25 to N11.
The PTF was scrapped by Obasanjo on assumption of
the Presidency in 1999. The ex-President also set up a
committee to investigate the accounts of the PTF
following allegations of N25bn fraud in the agency.
Obasanjo's fresh revelation was made in Ogun State
when Buhari and other national leaders of the APC
visited the ex-President at his Hilltop residence in
Abeokuta.
On the Buhari's entourage were the APC national
chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; the party's
former interim national chairman, Chief Bisi Akande; a
former governor of Lagos State and a national leader
of the APC, Bola Tinubu, and the governor of Ogun
State, Ibikunle Amosun, among others.
Obasanjo said when he looked into the report
submitted to him on the alleged fraud in the PTF he
did not see anything incriminating concerning Buhari.
He said, "When you were going to become the
manager of PTF. We talked about it and when you
finished and I took over, we looked into it.
"I haven't said this publicly, I would say it publicly now.
When we looked into it, there was really nothing amiss
except that that organisation went from road building
to mosquito net-buying and all sorts of things.
"And what the investigation discovered is a bit of
inconsistency in prices and all that. In one area,
mosquito net might have been given for N50; in
another, N45. And I then remarked that this is fishy.
We should look into it.
"And I called my brother and colleague (Buhari), I said
see this and he said 'look we are managing billions of
Naira and I tried to make sure I see everything.But I
will not say that what they have said about this is
correct or not correct. But I can assure you, I tried to
see everything.'
"I said okay Muhammadu, between me, you and God,
was there any personal benefit for you? And you said
'no.' I said that is the end of the matter.
"Although there was that investigation, its report was
not of any material importance."
Obasanjo asked Buhari and other presidential
candidates to address the nagging issues of insecurity,
economy and deficit in infrastructure.
He implored the presidential candidates to focus on
issues rather than trivialities.
He said, "I hope people will face issues rather than
trivialities. On occasions like this, issues are very
important. And you have mentioned three areas which
are demanding issues in Nigeria today.
"I will just beg all of you who are contesting to add one
to it; you mentioned economy, you mentioned
corruption, and you mentioned security.
"I will beg of you to add infrastructure. It's very
important. You may take it as part of economy but I
will take infrastructure as special and give it special
attention."
While he described a political party as a microcosm of
a nation, which would consist of near saints, devils,
rapists, and armed robbers, Obasanjo warned that
when the party wanted to go into government, it must
look for men and women of integrity.
Speaking earlier, Buhari said he would tackle
corruption while the resources would be used to
address infrastructural deficit.
He said if elected, his administration would also give
priority to security and fix the economy, stressing that
Obasanjo had more experience than him and others
in governance.
He said, "It's a fact that you know more than all we
know about the problem that we are in. But what we'll
do is try to convince you to believe us that we are
going to do better.
"We have been going around three fundamental
issues: security, economy, corruption. This vicious
circle is what the APC is determined to break.
"Because without security, there is no way the country
can settle down not to talk of living in it. So many
people, educated and uneducated, some said up to 60
per cent, will say Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gun
powder.
"We believe that if we are able to stop corruption, a lot
of resources will be available to invest in
infrastructure, get the factories to reopen, get jobs
and get goods and services. So security, economy, in
terms of employment, production, manufacturing,
goods and services, and then agriculture will again be
given impetus to employment."
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