Adesina: Buhari erred on the side of caution by not naming looters

Femi Adesina, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, believes that President Muhammadu Buhari deserves commendation for rescinding his initial decision to name those who returned ill-gotten wealth to the government.

When the issue of publishing recovered assets first came up back in May, Buhari promised to disclose the identities of those who returned what they took illegally.

“So far, what has come out, what has been recovered in whatever currency from each ministries, departments and individuals, I intend on the 29th to speak on this because all Nigerians are getting from the mass media because of the number of people arrested either by the EFCC, DSS. But we want to make a comprehensive report on the 29th,” he had said.

However, he refused to fulfill his promise on May 29 and rather transferred the responsibility to Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture.

Mohammed had earlier hinted Nigerians that the names would not be given, and the names were withheld when the list was eventually made public.

This has led to a wide range of reactions, with Socio Economic Right Accountability Project (SERAP) insisting that the government cannot justify its action in that regard.

But speaking when he featured on Sunday Politics, a programme on Channels Television, Adesina disagreed with those who were unhappy with the president.

“Well, the president said he will mention names, but even if he erred, it’s better to err on the side of caution. It’s always better to err on the side of caution. It (naming those who returned stolen assets) came up and legal opinion was that it was premature to mention those names,” he said.

“So, for me I think it’s a demonstration of strength for the president not to have mentioned those names again, contrary to what he said earlier. It shows that he buys into the opinion of other people. Legal minds came up to say: ‘Don’t mention these names of these people yet’. It would have implications if you do so, and he bought into it.

“I think rather it’s something that we must commend and applaud rather than condemn. These recoveries were made from May 29 last year to May 25 this year. A large number of them are fresh loot, outside the Abacha loot.”

He added that mentioning the names would discourage persons who had the intention of returning funds from bringing them forward.

Adesina also said if the president had gone ahead with his earlier plan and it backfired, it would have amounted to a major distraction for the government.

“What if at the end of the day the court decides that those people are not guilty and that the money should be returned, then you will have legal cases on your hands and that will constitute distraction to the government.

“At the end of the day, we will lose monies that would have been recoverable for the country. What of the situation of those who want to return monies… because the government has been precipitate in mentioning names, those funds will not be returned to the coffers again.

“I think it is better to err on the side of caution and that was why eventually the president agreed with those who said the names should be withheld.”

Adesina also said that the recovered funds could be used to make up for the deficit in the 2016 budget, which has over two trillion naira deficit.

“If you look at the 2016 budget, you will see that it anticipated this eventuality. There is a provision, I think about N380 billion which say would be provided for from recovered funds. So the budget anticipated this.

“When he visited the UK in February, the president said much of the money that would have been borrowed to fund this budget may not be borrowed again because of recovered funds and monies that were housed through the Treasury Single Account (TSA).”