TWO-TIME former Governor of old Bendel State, Dr Samuel Ogbemudia has described as unbelievable the amount of money being reported to have been carted away by some aides and Ministers of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to jail those found guilty.
On the war on terror, the former military tactician urged the President to fish out those supplying arms and ammunition to the Boko Haram sect, warning that the war on terror can only be won when the insurgents are deprived of weapons, adding that this could be achieved through intelligence.
He stated this during an interview with Vanguard in Benin City. While reacting to the ongoing probe of the administration of President Jonathan, Dr Ogbemudia urged the Presidency to be cautious of their facts before pronouncing people guilty, adding however that those found wanting should be dealt with accordingly.
According to him, “If it is correct that some people looted the national treasury during Jonathan, then they should be brought to book. They should spend toime to investigate the looting but they should not announce first that this man is a thief then later they will find out that he is not. Jonathan once described bribery and corruption as petty thief, if that is the new definition we shall see (laughter).
“My believe is that this is the first time APC is in government therefore all the theories that they have been propounding along the line, this is the time to test them, and it will take time to assemble sufficient evidence of their genuine readiness to govern. I gave them one year to prepare and three years to execute. If at the end of four years they encourage PDP to come back that will be good.
“The way every society behave is evidenced by the type of leadership that society has, it is a reflection of the quality of leadership. If during the last government EFCC did not have sufficient urge to arrest people, now no body is stopping them they are working. So I think that they will continue to do so until somebody stop them. We are waiting for the evidence of what we have heard so far about some persons. We are still waiting to hear that so so person who stole N10billion has returned N9billion or has been sentenced to jail” he asserted.
On the war against terror, Dr Ogbemudia stated “the sequence of events that have taken place since they (Presidency) started is the right step in the right direction. But our prayers is that the officers assigned to the fighting should have sufficient pressure and sufficient understanding to be able to pursue the objective. Fighting Boko Haram is not a war, if it were war all you need to do is to run bombs all over the state but that is not allowed. So you have to go in and fetch the individual out.
“But what is more important in all this is the job of the intelligence unit, they should go and identify the man who is supplying arms to Boko Haram. Boko Haram people are using weapons and ammunitions. They waste the ammunitions and they replace them, it means they must be buying it somewhere. Which bank is opening the letter of credit for them or the LPO, or which Port are they discharging it or which Airport is the plane bringing the ammunition landing.
“So the intelligence unit should be able to find all these, and once they grab the man who is paying the boys, who is supplying the arms then the war is over. But if they allow the man supplying the arms to be hiding then the war will continue. There is also information that when the Boko Haram boys have worked till the end of the month, they organize them to be killed by passing information to the opponents, so that the boys cannot collect their money.
“The person is a human being, he is a Nigerian he must be found. If the person is not found the source of the money will be located. And for the abducted girls, I do not believe that they will be found but if they are found they will never be the same again. A lot of transformation may have taken place”.
