Sultan’s call on Buhari to jail looters

SIR: The news stories in national newspapers on Sultan’s call to jail looters and seize their assets, published on August 18, 2015, made an interesting reading.

In the story, our respectable leader, Sultan Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, said President Muhammadu Buhari “should send those who loot the treasury to jail”.

I also watched the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) network news of August 17, 2015 and saw the Sultan making the same call.

To be honest with our Sultan, what he said at the Abuja Security Summit was what all Nigerians have been calling for: Jail the looters and punish the corrupt!

However, I am afraid that if President Buhari is to dig deeper, many traditional and religious leaders may be among those to be called to answer questions as some of them are now AGIP (any government in power).

There was a story published by an online newspaper, which said a prominent traditional ruler mounted pressures on the leadership of the Seventh House of Representatives to drop the probe of the former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison–Madueke, over private jets’ saga, among others. If this allegation is true, then there is a problem.

There was also an allegation that former President Goodluck Jonathan approved sales of scrap helicopters to a certain northern traditional ruler at a ridiculous price. Jonathan also allegedly approved the allocation of an oil block to this same traditional ruler through a middleman. The deal was allegedly facilitated by the former petroleum minister.

The proceeds of the oil block were allegedly used to purchase a mansion located at Maitama District Abuja.

The traditional ruler also allegedly mounted pressure on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) leadership to steer clear from the graft investigations in the petroleum industry and Diezani in particular.

Some traditional rulers have started creating Foundations, where politicians and public servants, particularly in the last administration, were coerced into donating money.

The Sultan’s clarion call is expedient because fighting corruption is beyond “show off” or “notice me.” Nobody should be spared in this fight against graft.

We are happy that Buhari is bent on “killing corruption before it kills Nigeria”.

• Aminu Abdulaziz,

Zaria Road, Kano.