7 June 2015
Former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has stated that he is being investigated for corruption by the President Muhamadu Buhari’s government. It is common when a new government comes to power it investigates the members of the previous regime. This is sometimes as a revenge or witch hunt. It is also because it is possible to get enough evidence to convict corrupt officials if the investigations are done as early as possible. If there is a time lapse, evidences will be destroyed and it will be difficult to convict the culprits. There is another reason that, the anti-corruption officials might have had the evidence but were afraid or they were prevented from taking action during the tenure of the then government.
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan claimed that he had done something to curb corruption during his tenure. He claimed that he had cleaned up the fertilizer subsidies scheme. He wanted to do the same for the oil sector but he was thwarted by his political opponents. If Goodluck Jonathan was not corrupt, why would he hide away in the UK instead of helping the government in the corruption investigations and in resolving the ​Niger Delta Avengers’ attack on oil installations. Niger Delta Avengers are blowing up pipelines in the region to prevent the federal government from its investigation into the corruption allegations against politicians in the Soth-South region. Niger Delta Avengers are funded by corrupt politicians to prevent Buhari’s anti-corruption drive. This is an open fight between corruption and a legitimate government.
Goodluck Jonathan had over $20 billion surplus in the excess crude oil revenue account, at the inception of his administration. This amount was reduced to $2 billion when he left office on 29 May 2015. He said that the difference was paid out to provincial governors. We do not know how much of this $18 billion went into Jonathan’s and Governor’s pockets. We do know that one former Governor of Delta State in southern Nigeria, James Onanefe Ibori,  is serving a 13-year sentence in a British jail after pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering.
It was reported that former Principal Secretary to Jonathan, Hassan Tukur has disclosed many corruption incidents that occurred during Jonathan’s regime with the hope of getting leniency.
President Muhamadu Buhari was in the limelight since British Premier David Cameron named Nigeria as fantastically corrupt. Little did Premier David Cameron realise that Britain has been the breeding ground for corruption in many of her former colonies. It is time for Britain to do the clean-up and return the looted money to the country where it was stolen from. Cameron knows well that this looted money brings economic prosperity to Great Britain.
After President Muhamadu Buhari came to power, the country is in the process of recovering more than $ 10 billion in looted assets. This includes $321 million claimed from Switzerland and $9.9 billion from Britain. It is hoped that Buhari will work closely with Cameron and succeeds in getting at least a part of the looted money.
It is hoped that Buhari will be able to clean up the corruption in the oil sector during his tenure.

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