As
the certificate forgery allegation involving the Minister of Finance
continues, Lai Mohammed has revealed why President Buhari has not acted.
Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has
revealed why President Muhammadu Buhari has not sacked Minister of
Finance, Dr Kemi Adeosun over the certificate forgery allegation.
Speaking on Monday during an official visit to the Abuja office of
The Authority Newspaper, Mohammed said Buhari was still keeping Adeosun
in his cabinet, as the case against the Minister is still under
investigation.
He said the appropriate agencies were still investigating the
allegation against the Finance minister and should be allowed to do
their jobs.
Adeosun was alleged to have forged a National Youth Service Corps exemption certificate.
“Until when an allegation is proven, you do not expect the President to act.
“The appropriate agencies have spoken and they say they are investigating. The only thing we can do is to wait.
“By saying that the minister should resign or be sacked while
investigation is still ongoing may also not be feasible in our clime
because of the level of false accusations.
“How many times have they accused me of embezzlement? Even
recently, they said my driver jumped out of the car, abandoned me and
decamped to PDP.
“People even made the allegation that President Buhari did not have certificate.’’
The minister insisted that the president will be usurping the
powers of the investigating agencies if he sacked Adeosun before their
reports.
“For instance, people have come to me that so and so TV and Radio stations are spreading fake news and I should shut them down.
“I told them that I do not have the power to do so; it is the
responsibility of the National Broadcasting Commission, even though it
is an agency under my watch.
“We are as concerned as you are; but having spent some time in
government, you will see that a lot of lies are being peddled about us.”
Mohammed gave an assurance that the government would not sweep the matter under the carpet.