EFCC gets presidency's nod to probe ex-president Jonathan

President Buhari’s assistants say he did not ask for exemption of Jonathan for probe
– They add that the president is not with hunting with his probe
– Ex-president Jonathan may soon be probed

President Muhammadu Buhari may have given the EFCC the nod to arrest and probe former president, Goodluck Jonathan over corruption allegations.

President Muhammadu Buhari may have given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the nod to probe ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan.
According to The Punch, President Buhari’s special assistant on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, in a chat on Friday, March 11, noted that there was no secret agreement between the present and past presidents to exempt Jonathan from the list of corrupt people to be probed by this administration.
“The President does not teleguide the EFCC in any way,” Adesina said while answering questions on whether the EFCC would seek the consent of President Buhari before probing Jonathan.
Speaking in the same vein, Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, told The Punch that, “there is no secret pact between President Buhari and any past President.
“If you know or understand him, President Buhari is not the kind of person who will go into secret agreements. He is open about everything he does.
“The war against corruption is open-ended. Nobody knows how it will end.”
Shehu explained further that the war against corruption in the country is not a witch hunt.
He said: “But the President is not on a witch hunt. If you remember his acceptance speech after being announced as the winner of the 2015 general elections, he said without any equivocation that he would not victimise or subject anyone to witch hunt.
“One thing very clear from the way he has carried on with the war against corruption is that past officials of government have a window to return looted funds to avoid investigation and trials which may be drawn out and sometimes inimical to the exercise.
“People can help themselves and help the country without being noisy about anything.
“The President is aware that he is under watch, locally and internationally, in his handling of the war against corruption.
“Whatever international support he will get will depend on how open and effective his government is in carrying out the anti-graft war.
“To that extent, the war against corruption knows neither friend nor foe.”
The body language of the anti-graft agency had initially suggested that they may be reluctant to bring in ex-president for questioning over multi-billion dollar corruption allegations, especially the $2.1billion arms deal.
This report also comes on the heel of Chief Olisa Metuh’s call for the probe of erstwhile president, Jonathan, as he ordered most of the payments being made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The PDP spokesperson, who has been standing trials over his involvement in the $2.1bn arms deal scam, was released on bail in January, 2016 after initially spending some nights at the Kuje prison.