Ministers and key officials of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan have additional headache to contend with as conmen have swooped on them.
Hiding under the guise of good Samaritans willing to assist them secure soft-landing from corruption probes, some well-placed Nigerians, among them senior members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and security operatives are said to be fleecing former ministers and top government officials in Jonathan’s government of millions of naira.
A prominent Nigerian, who held an influential and strategic position in the last government, blew the whistle on how some security operatives are inundating him and his former colleagues with tales of probes by either the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices (and other related) Commission (ICPC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) against them.
The former government minister official, who declined to be named, revealed that the people often offer to assist ex-ministers to either stop the probe or arrange a soft landing if they (ex-ministers) would part with a negotiated amount of money in cash.
“These days, what we see and hear everyday from security men and key members of the ruling party is that this and that probe is going on at the EFCC against Jonathan’s men. They will tell you to bring so so amount of money to enable them stop the probe.
“Out of fear, some of us accede to their requests…”
The former government official said targets include ministers like Works, Aviation, Transport, Water Resources, Federal Capital Territory and Education and added that some peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members were working hand-in-glove with APC members to swindle them.
Corroborating his claims, an aide to one of the former ministers lamented what he described as an “obnoxious development where some APC members were terrorising members of Jonathan’s cabinet with threats of investigations with a view to “extorting money” from them.He, however, did not name such APC leaders or those in the corridors of power who were ripping Jonathan’s men off.
President Buhari had repeatedly assured that he was not on a mission to witch-hunt or victimise anybody. However, Jonathan’s men are not convinced of the sincerity of the assurance .According to the former government official , the fear that the incumbent administration is after the former President, Dr Jonathan and those that worked with him is growing .
He insisted that the fear is genuine arguing that if President Buhari’s assurance was reliable , some elements his government and party would not have turned the anti-graft campaign into platforms for extorting monies from exministers and other public officers.
Although the source was forthcoming on the former ministers that have been swindled , he said the targets were those that held grade A ministries like works, aviation, transport, water resources, federal capital territory and education.He stressed that some top members of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), were curiously working hand in gloves with some dubious APC stalwarts in perpetrating this fraud.
He cautioned that unless President Buhari establishes a balance in the anti-corruption campaign by redressing what he said was a skewed clampdown on the opposition, the culture of extortion will persist thereby fuelling hate and more corruption.He charged security agencies to wake up to theirresponsibilities by apprehending these fraudsters who masquerade as genuine anti-corruption fighters.
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