Buhari: Corrupt Suspects are Innocent Until Proven Guilty

• Says Jonathan, PDP were unprepared for defeat, blames them for cabinet delay

Tobi Soniyi and Adebiyi Adedapo in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari monday in Abuja said   his administration would give full regard to due process and the rule of law in the prosecution of its war against corruption, adding that corruption suspects are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina said the president spoke when a delegation from the Foursquare Gospel Church visited him at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The president restated his commitment to recovering stolen funds, but stressed that the present administration’s efforts in this regard would be fully within the ambit of the law.

“Under military rule, people could be arrested and held on the basis of suspicion. But in a true democracy, anyone accused of an offence must be presumed innocent till pronounced guilty by a court of law,” the president said.

Buhari added that his administration was therefore diligently building up its case against those accused of stealing government funds, getting the necessary evidence and facts, before formal charges are brought against them.

He congratulated the Foursquare Church in Nigeria on its 60th anniversary convention which was concluded on Sunday.
In his remarks, the General Overseer of the church, Reverend Felix Meduoye lauded the Buhari administration for its positive strides in the war against corruption and the insurgency.

He said the church would continue to pray for the peace and prosperity of Nigeria.

This is just as Buhari also provided more insight into the challenges the All Progressives Congress-led government was faced with when it took over power from the Peoples Democratic Party in May.

He explained that the incomprehensible handover details from the immediate past government of the PDP were largely responsible for the delay in constituting his cabinet, adding that the erstwhile ruling party and former President Goodluck Jonathan were not mentally prepared for defeat at the 2015 elections and the transition that followed thereafter.

Buhari said that the APC was in the dark about the state of affairs of government when he was sworn in, adding that he spent two months taking briefings from various government ministries and agencies.

“The inadequacy of the handover notes contributed in no small measure to the delay in constituting my cabinet, as I needed to have a clear idea of what my administration was inheriting.

“This explains why, upon assuming office, I had to take briefings from ministries, departments and agencies for almost two months, even as I had to attend to other serious issues of governance,” he said.

The president, who spoke at the Transitions Stakeholders Dialogue organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) yesterday in Abuja, observed that the PDP was caught unawares by the results of the last general election, adding that PDP was not mentally prepared for the defeat and transition that followed.

According to Buhari, had a system been in place, real-time information would have been available to assist the incoming government to quickly settle down, form its cabinet and go about the business of governance.

“The then ruling government was completely caught unawares by the outcome of the election. They were not mentally prepared for the outcome of that election. They were unable to put in place structures that will make the transition seamless,” he stated.

The president, who was represented by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, disclosed that the absence of coherent transition details almost plunged Nigeria into a crisis, adding that the inadequacies in the handover notes prepared by the PDP administration delayed the business of government this far.

According to him, “This almost marred the transition process that followed, because our country lacks an institutionalised transition system; the then ruling government simply did not know what to do and unpatriotic elements exploited the situation, which almost led to a national crisis.”

He added that for a government led by a ruling party that had vowed to stay in power for 60 years in the first instance, they were not prepared for any transition that will not be from “themselves to themselves”.

“How can they, when they felt invincible, judging by their perceived strength and assumed popularity and the huge resources at their disposal?” he asked.

Buhari, who said the transition committee constituted after APC's electoral victory, expected that the outgoing government would provide a comprehensive report on the state of the economy, the security situation, infrastructure development or deficit and social issues, among other pertinent issues, disclosed that the APC transition committee got the exact opposite of what was expected.

“What we got was the exact opposite of what we expected. The team put in place by the outgoing government did not for once sit down with our own transition committee to discuss the nitty-gritty of what we were inheriting.

“The incoming government was completely left in the dark, and only got the handover notes four days to the handover date.

“The result was that the 19-member transition committee, led by Alhaji Ahmed Joda, had to turn itself into a resource group by dividing itself into five groups covering finance and economy, security, social issues, good governance and foreign affairs.

“The committee then invited experts and resource persons to make presentations to it on the various issues. It was positive that the committee took that action because when the outgoing government finally sent in its handover notes, they were not as helpful as they ought to have been.

“The notes did not disclose the information that would help the incoming government,” he said.

The president however promised to put in place an institutionalised framework for transition of power in order to avoid a repetition of the experience.

“It is absolutely important therefore that we put in place an institutionalised system that guarantees a seamless transition of power, whether intra, that is from a ruling government to itself, or inter – from the ruling power to the opposition.

“This will in turn reduce the kind of tension and anxiety that attended the last transition, and set the tone for a predictable and orderly transfer of power, thus solidifying the concept of governance as a continuum,” he added.

He noted that Nigeria must look at what obtains in older and more advanced democracies, adding that transition of power in advanced democracies is clear and unambiguous, “and is the reason they have been able to avoid the kind of tension and uncertainty that we experience in these parts”.

“In 2010, the first coming of David Cameron as the British Prime Minister, the Conservatives, which he led, won the largest number of seats in parliament but were 20 seats short of an overall majority, resulting in a hung parliament.
“It took some time before talks between Cameron and the Liberal Democrats, led by its leader Nick Clegg, to reach an agreed Conservative/Liberal Democrats coalition.

“While the talks lasted, there was no crisis and the transition was smooth because the institutionalised system of transition of power was in place. Let us therefore study the international best practices as far as transition frameworks are concerned, and then make recommendations for a framework that will best suit Nigeria and also stand the test of time.

"Doing this is also in line with our change mantra, which seeks to achieve a paradigm shift in the way we do things, whether as individuals, government or corporate bodies,” he said.

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, at the event also observed that there was no legal framework for the transition committee to operate upon and as such the committee was seen as a parallel government.

Dalung, who was a member of the committee, said the behaviour of the past government didn’t give the committee the opportunity to access basic information.

He also said that the issue of funding was particularly an issue, adding that for the 40 days of the life of the committee, funding and logistics for the committee members was a challenge.

“To buttress the function of a legal framework, an institution for transition of power should be set up,” he recommended.

Source: THISDAYLIVE