Buhari: America is behind us, we’ll win anti-corruption war

President Muhammadu Buhari says with the support of the United States and the goodwill of people, his government will win the war against anti-corruption.

He said corrupt people had accumulated a formidable arsenal of illicit wealth, which they were now deploying against the government on diverse fronts.

Femi Adesina, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, quoted Buhari as saying this at a meeting with John Kerry, US secretary of state, on the margins of conference on climate change, COP22, in Marrakech, Morocco.

According to him, Buhari said the anti-corruption war was “tough and grueling” but that the battle would be won.

“It is a war we are determined to win, and which we will win. People of goodwill are behind us, countries like America and many others are with us, and we will surely win,” he said.

The president also spoke with Kerry on the war against insurgency in the north-east, and efforts being made to tackle humanitarian problems caused by Boko Haram.

He informed Kerry that a presidential committee had been launched “under Gen TY Danjuma, a man of high integrity”.

On the unrest in the Niger Delta area, which manifests in the sabotage of critical oil and power installations,  Buhari said the engagement process was proceeding apace,  but that it was rather difficult to bring the main protagonists of the insurgency under one umbrella.

The president said Nigeria was happy with American support on different fronts, adding that the economic challenges facing the country were being “frontally tackled, and we will overcome them soon.”

Adesina said Kerry expressed delight at the “many successes” of the Buhari administration, pledging continued US support in the bid to overcome security, humanitarian, political, and economic challenges.

He reportedly described Buhari as a strong international partner in the battle against violent extremism.