A former political ally of President Muhammadu Buhari and now spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign, Alhaji Buba Galadima, has accused the President of illegitimately enriching some of his relatives. Galadima, who spoke yesterday on a live programme on Channels Television,Sunrise Daily, alleged that some individuals close to Buhari, who were poor in 2015, when the President assumed office have become owners of choice houses in Buhari’s hometown of Daura, Katsina State. Galadima, a former National Secretary of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the platform on which Buhari contested the 2011 presidential election, stated that contrary to belief, the President had not shown any sign of integrity.
His words: “I can’t see any integrity whatsoever on the side of Mr. President. Which integrity? Somebody who condones corrupt people around him? We know of his relatives, we know of his friends who were bankrupt before 2015; we know of his relatives who took N2,000 transport money from us to go to Kaduna. Today, they are multi-billionaires. “They have assets all over the world. They have estates all over the world. I can show anybody that wants to know.
So, the issue of integrity with this government is not an issue. Go to Daura GRA. When you go there, all the houses that make you feel as if you are in Dubai, London or Beirut were built by who?“To whom do those properties belong? So, please, I don’t want any All Progressives Congress (APC) man to talk to me about integrity.
This should be the last time anybody engaging me in a debate would talk about integrity; I will take them to the market place.” Galadima, who also spoke on the President’s chances in the 2019 elections, said Buhari has already ‘handed over’ power to a former vice president and presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Insisting that Buhari will not be re-elected, Galadima said: “I quote the president, he said he is leaving it (assent to the amended Electoral Act) to the next government, of course, God will answer his prayers because, by May 29, he will not be the president of Nigeria.” He further said that the President’s decline of assent to Electoral Bill is denying other candidates a level playing field, transparency and access to power. According to him, “I don’t think that by this, the President thinks that he could do justice to other people and that he is looking for peace.”