Diya: Buhari needs prayers to fight corrupt politicians

Former Chief of Gen­eral Staff, General Oladipo Diya, has urged Nigerians to pray for President-elect, General Muhammadu Bu­hari, and Vice President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to make a success of their administration.

Speaking with Daily Sun in his Ikeja, Lagos residence at the weekend, the former number two citizen said Bu­hari and Osinbajo were men of integrity mandated to lead the country in the midst of many corrupt politicians.

He said the duo needed God’s support to tackle cor­ruption without being frus­trated.

Diya described Buhari, who was his boss when he was the military governor of Ogun State between 1984 and 1985, as a highly disci­plined man who would not tolerate any act of indisci­pline.

His words: “I have worked under him as a military gov­ernor when he was the head of state and the command­er-in-chief of the Nigeria Armed Forces. And when I was Nigeria’s military vice president or chief of general staff then and we appointed him as the chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), he gave us conditions before accepting the offer, to work independently and not be under the control of anybody and we accepted. At the end, he did a good job and we found nothing like fraudu­lent practice in the commis­sion. So, I can vouch for him any time.”

Diya insisted that those who overthrew Buhari as military head of state were corrupt people who were uncomfortable with the pres­ident-elect’s resolve to fight corruption.

He said Buhari stopped different benefits military governors were getting be­fore he took over power. “Things like command al­lowance, security votes and other allowances were stopped. No military gover­nor could travel outside the country or award any con­tract without approval from the chief of staff, Supreme Headquarters, who him­self got directives from the commander-in-chief. In fact, no military governor was al­lowed to travel outside Af­rica,” Diya said.

If Buhari could not suc­ceed in fighting corruption as a military ruler, he feared, doing so in a democratic dis­pensation would be a huge challenge.

He insisted that a lot of politicians in the country believed in going into pub­lic service to amass wealth. Diya, however, said if Nige­rians did not relent in pray­ing for Buhari and his team, the government would suc­ceed in fighting corruption and the nation would make progress.