President Muhammadu Buhari has said the federal government is looking into evidences that would lead to the arrest and prosecution of some former ministers and other government officials believed to be corrupt.

Buhari said this at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington while answering questions at an interactive session with Nigerians in the Diaspora.

He lamented that some of the officials were involved in the illegal sale and diversion of crude oil monies belonging to the Federal Government to multiple private accounts abroad.

“We are now looking for evidences of shipping some of our crude, their destinations and where and which accounts they were paid and in which country. When we get as much as we can get as soon as possible, we will approach those countries to freeze those accounts and go to court, prosecute those people and let the accounts be taken to Nigeria.

“The amount of money is mind-boggling but we have started getting documents. We have started getting documents where some of the senior people in government, had as much as five accounts and were moving about one million barrels per day on their own.

“We have started getting those documents. Whichever documents we are able to get, we’ll subsequently trace the sale of the crude or transfer of money from ministries, departments, and the central bank. 

“We will ask for the cooperation of those countries to return those monies to federation accounts and we will use those documents to arrest those people and prosecute them. This, I promise Nigerians,” he said.

Buhari is really pissed at the way the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was being managed, saying his administration would check the excesses of the corporation. He also added that his administration is carefully studying the oil subsidy case.

“When people ask you to remove subsidy ask them to define it. Who is subsidizing who? Let me make it clear. The people are gleefully saying remove subsidy,” he added.

Janeth J