I am not afraid of Buhari’s probe – Okonjo-Iweala

Few hours to the expiration of her tenure, the outgoing Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has that she is not afraid of being probed by the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari.

Following allegations of official corruption, there has been strident calls for the incoming Buhari administration to probe the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

But, the outgoing President has said that while he is not against such probe, it must extend to the administrations before his, stressing that anything such of that would be a witch-hunt.

Responding to what she described as attack on her by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, the minister, in a statement on Thursday May 28, 2015, Okonjo-Iweala said, “There is no substance in the wild allegations that money is missing from the account or that finances of the country under her watch have not been well managed.”

“I have no reason to fear Buhari. Those who cannot adequately explain what they did with the resources of their states and are begging for bailout are those who should to be scared,” she stated.

Okonjo-Iweala denied claims by Oshiomhole that she has been speaking out lately because of the fear of Buhari.

“If there is any minister whose voice has been strong on the right issues over the past four years, it is Okonjo-Iweala,” she added.

The minister said she has no apologies for insisting that a claim of N159 billion for forex differentials by the marketers out of a total bill of N200billion should go through an additional verification process, stressing that when over 80 per cent of a subsidy claim is made up of forex differentials and not the value of the amount of fuel supplied, the proper thing to do is to ensure that the country is not cheated