Fayose: looted cash hidden at Presidential Villa

Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of protecting looted cash allegedly hidden by some top officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and unnamed sponsors of the party’s 2015 presidential campaign.
Fayose said Aso Rock Presidential Villa had been turned into a facility where the President’s men hide their loot.
But the governor neither provided details nor substantiated his allegation.
He accused the President and his administration of fooling Nigerians with what he called “staged-managed recovery” of looted cash in some locations across the country to convince them that the anti-corruption war was on course.
In a statement yesterday by his Special Assistant on public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said the hefty cash in local and foreign currencies recovered in some parts of the
country belonged to top officials of the Buhari administration, who he said have become untouchable because of the backing they enjoy from their principal.
He urged the international community to hold the Buhari administration accountable for the recovered N13 billion cash found at an Ikoyi, Lagos home.
According to him, the issue “must not be swept under the carpet”.
Fayose was reacting to a statement credited to Information Minister Lai Mohammed that looters had resorted to burying stolen funds in their backyards, deep forests and burial grounds to escape the scrutiny of Bank Verification Number (BVN) and possible arrest.
But Fayose disagreed with the minister, saying: “Looters in the Buhari’s Presidency, especially those being compensated for funding the election of the President in 2015, bury their loots in the Villa with presidential protection.
“Should it be wrong for other supposed looters that do not have presidential protection, like their APC counterparts to bury their loots in burial grounds, probably for spiritual protection?
“Nigerians can no longer be fooled by stage-managed loots recoveries, with no traceable owners (looters), especially when the loots are traceable to close associates of the President and his cabinet members.
“Obviously, this so-called anti-corruption war has become a laughing stock with N49 million found in Kaduna Airport, N448 million discovered in a shop on Victoria Island, Lagos, and N13 billion found in Ikoyi, Lagos; neither having owners nor the identities of owners of the properties where the money was found known.
“It is either the money belongs to members of Buhari’s government or it is being planted by the government to sustain its fake anti-corruption fight in the minds of the people.
“Enough of stage-managed and fake anti-corruption war aimed solely at opposition figures, especially presidential hopefuls in the 2019 election.”
Fayose said two different laws were being operated in the country: one for the APC and those who defect to the party; the other for the opposition, especially those perceived as having presidential ambition.
He added: “The narrative they push daily is that only those in their government are saints while other Nigerians, including those in the National Assembly, Judiciary, opposition politicians and the civil servants, are rogues, while only Buhari’s appointees are saints.
“To worsen matters, the cluelessness of the APC government in the last two years has plunged the country into debt without anything to show.
“The cabals in the Presidency are also taking advantage of the President’s state of health, which is as a result of his age, to oppress Nigerians.
“Nigerians must, therefore, keep their eyes on the ball and avoid being carried away by the orchestrated distractions aimed at preventing them from seeing how the APC-led government has failed woefully.”