Buhari agrees with Cameron that Nigeria is ‘fantastically corrupt’

Buhari spoke briefly with Sky News’ Diplomatic Editor, Dominic Waghorn, after he delivered his keynote address at the Commonwealth event tagged, “Tackling corruption together: A conference for civil society, business and government leaders,” held at the Commonwealth Secretariat, London.

The brief interaction took place as Buhari was making his way out of the venue alongside some dignitaries.

According to a video of the interaction posted on the news medium’s website and monitored by one of our correspondents, the President also told his interviewer that he was not embarrassed by Cameron’s statement.

The following discussion ensued:

Waghorn: Will you like an apology from the Prime Minister?

Buhari: No, no. Not at all.

Waghorn: Are you embarrassed by what he (Cameron) said?

Buhari: No, I’m not.

Waghorn: Is Nigeria fantastically corrupt?

Buhari: Yes.

Buhari had earlier on Wednesday said he would not demand an apology from Cameron for describing Nigeria as a “fantastically corrupt” country.

Rather, Buhari who is currently in London for an anti-corruption summit, said all he would demand from Cameron was the return of Nigeria’s stolen assets.

The President spoke while answering questions after he delivered his keynote address at the Commonwealth event in London.

He made reference to a former governor of Bayelsa State, the late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who was accused of jumping bail in UK in 2005.

He said Britain was prepared to return the former governor’s assets to Nigeria.

“I am not going to be demanding any apology from anybody. What I will be demanding is the return of assets. I have already mentioned how disgraceful one of Nigeria’s executives was. He had to dress like a woman to leave Britain and left behind his bank account and fixed assets which Britain is prepared to hand over to us.

“This is what I am asking for. What will I do with an apology? I need something tangible,” Buhari said amidst laughter from participants.

Alamieyeseigha was alleged to have, on November 22, 2005, dressed like a woman and used forged passport to jump bail in Britain where he was being investigated for allegedly laundering £1.8m.

The former governor was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September, 2005, while he was a sitting governor in the oil-rich Bayelsa State and his passport confiscated.

He faced three counts of money laundering after police found £1m in cash at his London address and property in his name worth £10m.

He sneaked back to Nigeria, forfeiting a £1.25m bail bond.

Alamieyeseigha died in October, 2015, at the age of 63 at a time the present administration was said to be planning to extradite him to the UK to face his money laundering charges.

Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said Buhari’s utterances outside Nigeria were the reasons Cameron described Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt.”

He said the President should apologise to Nigerians for denigrating them and the country.

He added, “What do you expect from the international community when the President of a nation keeps going abroad to say that his people are corrupt.”

“When a President mounts the podium in foreign lands and gleefully says that his own people are criminals, that they are corrupt and that those abroad should be sent back home, why won’t presidents of other countries brand all citizens of such a country as fantastically corrupt?”

I don’t need Cameron’s apology

Meanwhile, Buhari said he would not demand an apology from Cameron, for describing Nigeria, along with Afghanistan, as “fantastically corrupt”.

Rather, Buhari, who is currently in London for an anti-corruption summit, said all he would demand from Cameron was the return of Nigeria’s stolen assets.

The President spoke while answering questions after he delivered his keynote address at conference on Wednesday.

He made reference to a former governor of Bayelsa State, the late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who jumping bail in the UK in 2005.

He said Britain was prepared to return the former governor’s assets to Nigeria.

Buhari said, “I am not going to be demanding any apology from anybody. What I will be demanding is the return of assets.

“I have already mentioned how Britain, how they led, and how disgraceful one of Nigeria’s executives was. He had to dress like a woman to leave Britain and left behind his bank account and fixed assets which Britain is prepared to hand over to us.

“This is what I am asking for. What will I do with (an) apology? I need something tangible.”

Alamieyeseigha was alleged to have, on November 22, 2005, dressed like a woman and used forged passport to jump bail in Britain, where he was being investigated on charges of laundering £1.8m.

The former governor was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September 2005, while he was the Bayelsa State governor and his passport confiscated.

He faced three counts of money laundering after police found £1m in cash at his London address and property in his name worth £10m.

He sneaked back to Nigeria, forfeiting a £1.25m bail bond.

When asked how he evaded British controls to make it back to his village in Bayelsa State, Alamieyeseigha was quoted to have simply said, “I don’t know myself. I just woke up and found myself in Amassoma.”

Dressed like a woman, the former governor was said to have taken a Eurostar train from London to Paris and then flown to Douala, a port city in Cameroon, where a speedboat took him home under the cover of darkness.

In his keynote address on Wednesday, Buhari admitted that his administration anti-corruption war was not an easy task.

He, however, expressed the possibility of prosecuting the war to a successful end even if many feathers would have to be ruffled.

Buhari said his desire to prosecute the anti-corruption war successfully was evident in the manner he had so far allowed the anti-graft agencies to operate without interference unlike the situation in the past.

He stated, “Tackling the menace of corruption is not an easy task, but it is possible even if many feathers have to be ruffled.

“Today, our frontline anti-corruption agencies, namely, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal, have become revitalised and more proactive in the pursuit of perpetrators of corrupt practices, irrespective of their social status and political persuasion. This is a radical departure from the past.

“We have implemented the Treasury Single Account, whereby all Federal Government revenue goes into one account. This measure would make it impossible for public officers to divert public funds to private accounts as was the practice before.

“Through the effective application of TSA and the Bank Verification Number, we have been able to remove 23,000 ‘ghost’ workers from our payroll, thereby, saving billions that would have been stolen.

“We are also reviewing our anti-corruption laws and have developed a national anti-corruption strategy document that will guide our policies in the next three years and possibly beyond.”

Describing corruption as a hydra-headed monster and a cankerworm that undermined the fabric of all societies, Buhari said the menace did not differentiate between developed and developing countries.

He said corruption constituted a serious threat to good governance, rule of law, peace and security as well as development programmes aimed at tackling poverty and economic backwardness.

He said these considerations informed his decision to personally attend the event as well as the Anti-Corruption Summit organised by Prime Minister David Cameron that would be held on Thursday.

He recalled that the starting point of his administration was to demonstrate zero tolerance for corrupt practice, describing the vice as largely responsible for the social and economic problems Nigeria currently faces.

The President said he was aware of the various challenges inherent in fighting corruption within the ambit of the law and respect for human rights.

Although he said he expected security agencies to carry out their duties with respect for the rule of law, he said it would take time to change the mentality of law enforcement officers of a country that came out of prolonged military rule only about 16 years ago.

He added, “I admit that there are a few cases where apparently stringent rules have been applied as a result of threats to national security and the likelihood that certain persons may escape from the country or seek to undermine the stability of Nigeria.

“It is for this reason that we are seeking the support of many countries for the prosecution of certain individuals residing in their jurisdictions.

“Of course, we will provide the necessary legal documents and whatever mutual assistance is required to secure conviction of such individuals as well as facilitate the repatriation of our stolen assets.”

Buhari also regretted that the process of repatriating stolen funds was tedious and costly.

He said, “Our experience has been that repatriation of corrupt proceeds is very tedious, time consuming, costly and entails more than just the signing of bilateral or multilateral agreements.

“This should not be the case as there are provisions in the appropriate United Nations Convention that require countries to return assets to countries from where it is proven that they were illegitimately acquired.

“Further, we are favourably disposed to forging strategic partnerships with governments, civil society organisations, organised private sector and international organisations to combat corruption.

“Our sad national experience had been that domestic perpetrators of corrupt practices do often work hand-in-hand with international criminal cartels.

“This evil practice is manifested in the plundering and stealing of public funds, which are then transferred abroad into secret accounts.

“I therefore, call for the establishment of an international anti-corruption infrastructure that will monitor, trace and facilitate the return of such assets to their countries of origin.

“It is important to stress that the repatriation of identified stolen funds should be done without delay or preconditions.”

Buhari added that Nigeria was being confronted with illegal activities in the oil sector, which is the mainstay of the nation’s export economy.

He said the oil industry had been enmeshed in corruption with the participation of members of staff of some of the oil companies, saying their participation enabled oil theft to take place on a massive scale.

He said a total of about 150,000 barrels of crude oil were being stolen from Nigeria daily.

The President recalled a report titled ‘Nigeria’s Criminal Crude: International Options to Combat the Export of Stolen Oil” released by Chatham House, London, in 2013, which revealed that Nigerian crude oil was being stolen on an industrial scale and exported.

The report, he added, stated that the proceeds were laundered through world financial centres by transnational organised criminals.

He said apart from the fact that the report identified oil theft as an organised crime, it also noted that Nigeria could not stop the trade single-handedly.

He therefore urged the international community to designate oil theft as international crime.

Buhari said, “Opaque and murky as these illegal transactions may be, they are certainly traceable and can be acted upon, if all governments show the required political will.  This will has been the missing link in the international efforts hitherto.  Now in London, we can turn a new page by creating a multi-state and multi-stakeholder partnership to address this menace.”

On his part, he said Nigeria was committed to signing the Open Government Partnership initiatives alongside Prime Minister David Cameron during the summit on Thursday