Okonjo-Iweala under attack for stopping Buhari’s men from stealing, says aide

Paul Nwabuikwu, media adviser to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says the former finance minister has been an object of vilification because she blocked some “corrupt people” who are now in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government from stealing.

Nwabuikwu was reacting to reports that the Okonjo-Iweala family established a multi-million dollar hospital in Abuja.

“Why is Okonjo-Iweala the object of this ceaseless campaign of falsehoods and distortions? The answer is simple: because she refused to steal and share and because she blocked many powerful people, some of whom are now in power, from stealing. That is why they would go to any lengths to tarnish her name,” he said.

“Okonjo-Iweala has a clean record of two terms in office. As we have consistently maintained, she is not afraid of a transparent investigation of her two terms in office. She supports the anti-corruption drive in Nigeria.

“No one who has had the privilege of serving his or her country should feel too big to be investigated. It is this very issue of fighting corruption that brought her back in the first place and she has a track record of blocking corruption. It is ironic that it is those same corrupt people who are trying to tarnish her image using corrupt media.

“People should recall that it was her fight against subsidy scammers that led to her mother being kidnapped in 2012 with the demand by the scammers that she should resign and leave the country.

“Nigerians should prepare for more attacks because these people are desperate and drunk with power. But they will keep failing because the truth will ultimately prevail.”