Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), has said his committee cannot probe the failed $16 billion power project carried out during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
CKN News recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier hinted on probing Obasanjo over the failed $16 billion power project, and Obasanjo, while reacting, said that he was ready for probe over the power project.
However, Sagay speaking to Independent, said his committee had not looked into the project because it did not have the mandate to do so.
He said:“When the time comes, we will meet with Buhari on the power project. It is an issue that we were not seriously thinking about in my committee.
"As I said, the anti-corruption agencies are the ones who have all the facts and figures.“So, we will meet them and give them the initiatives, but if this thing becomes a political issue, it may be necessary to dig in, get the facts and take the appropriate action.
"If anybody wants to make capital of politics by running down the government which is the most upright government we have had since Murtala Mohammed government then, this government may have to show that it is a government of principle and a government that has a will to suppress corruption, and those who challenge it will face the music.
"It is not that we don’t want to look into the issue of the $16 billion power project because of the former president but the truth is that my committee doesn’t have that power.
"We don’t do investigation or prosecution. Our work is mainly that of a think-tank. In other words, we do activities to give the anti-corruption agencies greater capacity to make them more effective.”
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