The President vowed that the ex-ministers would be prosecuted based on the indicting documents while the proceeds of their fraud would be repatriated to government coffers from their multiple foreign accounts, which he said were opened for the purpose of laundering money.
Buhari said the documents at his disposal indicted some former ministers and other top government officials of massive fraud, including oil theft.
“Some former ministers were selling about one million barrels per day. I assure you that we will trace and repatriate such money and use the documents to prosecute them. A lot of damage has been done to the integrity of Nigeria with individuals and institutions already compromised,” the President said.
He spoke at an interactive session with Nigerians in Diaspora at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC, United States of America, as part of his four-day official visit to the country.
He also said that while many Nigerians had nicknamed him “Baba Go Slow” because of the delay in forming his cabinet, he would prefer to be “slow and steady” in taking decisions.
He said the government officials who had been stealing Nigerian oil also opened as many as five bank accounts abroad for the purpose of laundering the money they made from their thievery.
The President said, “We are now looking for evidences of shipping some of our crude, their destinations and where and which accounts they were paid and in which country.
“When we get as much as we can get as soon as possible, we will approach those countries to freeze those accounts and go to court, prosecute those people and let the accounts be taken to Nigeria.
“The amount of money is mind-boggling but we have started getting documents. We have started getting documents where some of the senior people in government, former ministers, some of them operated as much as five accounts and were moving about one million barrels per day on their own. We have started getting those documents.
“I assure you that whichever documents we are able to get and subsequently trace the sale of the crude or transfer of money from ministries, departments, Central Bank, we will ask for the cooperation of those countries to return those monies to the Federation Accounts.
“And we will use those documents to arrest those people and prosecute them. This, I promise Nigerians.”
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