by Damilola Jagun
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says his administration probed the accounts of the Petroleum Trust Fund headed by Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and found nothing amiss.
Obasanjo made the disclosure on Tuesday, January 13, in Ogun State when the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate and other national leaders of the APC visited his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta.
He said after looking into the report on the alleged fraud in the PTF, he could not find any evidence of impropriety against Buhari.
Obasanjo said to Buhari: “When you were going to become the manager of PTF. We talked about it and when you finished and I took over, we looked into it.
“I haven’t said this publicly, I would say it publicly now. When we looked into it, there was really nothing amiss except that that organisation went from road building to mosquito net-buying and all sorts of things.”
“And what the investigation discovered is a bit of inconsistency in prices and all that. In one area, mosquito net might have been given for N50; in another, N45. And I then remarked that this is fishy. We should look into it.”
“And I called my brother and colleague (Buhari), I said see this and he said ‘look we are managing billions of Naira and I tried to make sure I see everything. But I will not say that what they have said about this is correct or not correct. But I can assure you, I tried to see everything.”
“I said okay Muhammadu, between me, you and God, was there any personal benefit for you? And you said ‘no.’ I said that is the end of the matter. Although there was that investigation, its report was not of any material importance.”
Under the regime of the late dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. Buhari headed the PTF, which was established to manage the fund accruable from the increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) from N3.25 to N11.
The PTF was scrapped by Obasanjo on assumption of the Presidency in 1999. The ex-President also set up a committee to investigate the accounts of the PTF following allegations of N25bn fraud in the agency.
Leave a reply