ABUJA-Secretary of Northern Leaders and
Stakeholders Assembly, Dr. Umar Ardo, has tasked United States
President, Donald Trump to ask President Muhammadu Buhari while he
jailed an American citizen for 95 years in 1984 while he was Nigerian
military Head of State.
Ardo, a former ally of ex-Vice President,
Atiku Abubakar alleged that the Buhari-led military regime jailed
Mahmet Ben Chembi without any evidence against her, in 1984.
He
alleged that President Buhari was not knew to taking extra judicial
means of dealing with perceived enemies even when there were no evidence
against them.
Ardo told journalists on Sunday that he was not
surprised that the President was reluctant in obeying court orders even
as he questioned President Buhari’s democratic credentials.
According
to him, the American lady merely came to do legitimate business in
Nigeria when he was arrested by the then regime of Buhari.
He
said: “There was this case of the wealthy American lady, Mahmet Ben
Chembi, who brought in her $17 million from the US to invest in plumbing
in the building of Abuja, but was framed of defrauding the Nigerian
State and taken to Buhari’s Military Tribunal and jailed for 95 years
without a shred of evidence adduced against her by the government.
“On
top of it, she was fined N500 million. It was the regime of another
military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida that set up a Judicial Review Panel
that reviewed the case and released her from jail.
“President Donald Trump should ask his guest, President Muhammadu Buhari while he did that to his (Trump ) citizen.
“There
was also the case of a wealthy Nigerian woman resident in Saudi Arabia
who returned to the country and was arrested on arrival at Kano airport,
taken to tribunal and jailed 10 years for being in possession of N600.
She had a 5-year old daughter who was sent to jail along with her. ”
He regretted that Buhari’s antecedents did not portray him as a leader that could be trusted with another four years in office.
Because
of this, he said the country must look for a new leader in 2019 who he
said would show love to Nigerians regardless of their ethnicity and
political affiliations.
He also said it would be wrong to assume
that the Buhari regime is corruption -free, saying the truth about its
activities would be unveiled after leaving office.
He continued:
“Having known all these about Buhari, and many, many more of such, I
came to the inevitable conclusion that a person like that cannot make a
good leader.
“It is natural therefore for reasonable people to
oppose such a leadership and look out for an alternative. This is
exactly what is going on in Nigeria today.
“In fact, such
frivolous and unfounded accusations inundating Buhari’s past leadership
has brought to serious question the current accusations against members
of the past regime.
“No one should blame me if I question the
truthfulness of the current exercise. After all, it is only after
leaving office that the truth of one’s tenure is revealed.
“For
as far as I am concerned, the current so-called looters’ list is nothing
more than names of the likes of Ben Chembi. If the man can do it then,
why can’t he do it now?
“I know those former leaders have their blames, but the Buhari leadership has the most blame.”
Ardo
said that it would be better for President Buhari to listen to former
leaders who he said had advised him against running for a second term.
“I
believe those who advised him not to run are being kind to him and are
lovers of this country because they know he has lost the support of
majority of Nigerians and if he re-contests and wants to use incumbency
to force himself back to office, he will only plunge the country into
unfathomable crises that will not be in the interest of anyone,” he
added.
