Buhari shocks Atiku with offers of friendship, as President says PDP candidate surrounds self with foxes who deceived, failed with Jonathan

*Asks ex-VP to approach him for advice

“Atiku has surrounded himself with all those who failed with Jonathan. His spokespersons and those speaking for him on social media were the ones who sank Jonathan.  Our advice to him is that he should be careful of these scammers around him. They were the ones who scammed Jonathan and made him believe that he was making headway in the campaign, but at the end of the day, we saw the result.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has told Presidential Candidate of the main opposition party in Nigeria, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to be cautious of scammers around him.

Buhari said that the former Vice President has surrounded himself with same people that failed with former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

Speaking through Festus Keyamo (SAN), the spokesman of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, the President also told Atiku to come to him for advice.

He was reacting to an earlier claim by the former VP through his campaign organization, where he mocked Buhari over corruption allegation on Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

He said, “Atiku has surrounded himself with all those who failed with Jonathan. His spokespersons and those speaking for him on social media were the ones who sank Jonathan.

“Our advice to him is that he should be careful of these scammers around him. They were the ones who scammed Jonathan and made him believe that he was making headway in the campaign, but at the end of the day, we saw the result.

“Our advice to him is that he should reach out to us to tell him those who are the scammers around him. They want his money.”

On Oshiomhole, Keyamo said: “They should face their crisis. There is no crisis at all within us. It shows that we have a system that works, a system that everybody is free to express his mind, we don’t run a regimented system, there is freedom of speech.

‘’We are telling them that they should emulate our culture where even the national chairman can be subjected to security screening.

“During their time, it was not even like that, it was like a cult but what they are doing now by beaming their searchlight on our national chairman is that they are campaigning for Buhari.

“They are further reinforcing the transparent nature of Buhari, that even his national chairman cannot be spared when it comes to corruption. They have just scored an own goal.

“By talking about Oshiomhole, they have scored an own goal. It shows that the President can even move against his national chairman, even during campaign period.

“I am not saying that is correct, but if they are alleging the harassment of our national chairman by security agencies, they have just scored an own goal because they have given credit to Buhari on his anti-corruption posture.”

Jonathan’s government has largely been described as corrupt. According to The Economist, corruption flourished under the Jonathan administration, “who let politicians and their cronies fill their pockets with impunity.” Large sums of money have been used improperly multiple times, with ₦ 3.98 trillion Naira ($20 billion USD) allegedly going missing and ₦ 398 billion Naira ($2 billion USD) of military funds allegedly dispersed amongst high-ranking officials. In addition, Jonathan was alleged to have personally ordered over ₦ 3 trillion Naira ($15 billion USD) from the Central Bank of Nigeria to support his election and other self-seeking projects under the guise of an intervention fund for national stability.

Charles Soludo, a professor of economics and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, equated Jonathan’s financial recklessness to that of former Ugandan president Idi Amin. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an economist and former Finance Minister of Nigeria, pegged Jonathan’s administration as the main cause of Nigeria’s economic woes in a lecture at George Washington University, although she later denied it. None of the corruption allegations against Jonathan have been proven in any law court.

Since May 2015, the Muhammadu Buhari administration reportedly has been fighting corruption that was perpetrated under Jonathan. Some of the former political office holders and appointees that served under Jonathan, as well as party members, have been arrested on various corruption charges. It is alleged that some, including former Finance Minister Nenadi Usman, have returned part of the money they stole. None of