All Who Have Looted Since 1999 Must Return Everything, Nigerian President Buhari Declares

Government officials and their allies who have stolen from the public purse since 1999 must prepare to return what they took, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.The Nigerian leader made the ominous remark on Tuesday during an interaction with the Nigerian community in Tehran, Iran, as he spoke on issues of corruption, revealing that a number of past officials have voluntarily begun the return of stolen funds.

He however stressed that his government will not accept tokenism. “We want to have everything back – all that they took by force in 16 years,” he declared in a statement signed by presidential spokesman Garba Shehu.

It had erroneously been thought that his anti-corruption focus would only cover the previous administration of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan. His statement means the drive will be broader and bigger.

He told his audience that the necessity for compliance with due process is responsible for the delay in commencing prosecution of the looters of the country’s economy, but that the “the day of reckoning is gradually coming.”

He also disclosed that military task forces are to be reorganized to successful protect Nigeria’s network of gas pipelines, as sabotage and theft of gas are undermining the efforts of the government to increase power supply.

“Supplies will become steady,” he assured. “There will be less sabotage as we secure the pipelines.”

He noted that while there has been some improvement in power in recent times, sabotage of pipeline installations continued to be a problem. The task forces will have representation from the Army, Navy, Air Force, the Police and other security agencies.