Buhari is most wicked, corrupt leader in Nigerian history — Aisha Yesufu

President Muhammadu Buhari is the most corrupt and callous president Nigeria has ever had, human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, says.

Yesufu, who took to her Twitter handle to make the assertion on Thursday, was reacting to the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) announcement over the approval of the sum of $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers state.

The approval was announced on Wednesday, at the 38th virtual FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

But in reaction, Yesufu says that Buhari is determined to destroy the country.

“Buhari is not only the most corrupt person to rule Nigeria, but he is also the most callous, heartless, irresponsible and pathetic person to rule Nigeria,” @AishaYesufu tweeted.

“He is determined to destroy Nigeria that gave him everything and wasted its resources on him!”

Former vice president Atiku Abubakar also criticised the move to rehabilitate the facility, calling it a suspicious waste of money.

“$1.5 billion to renovate the Port Harcourt refinery is suspicious at the least,” Atiku said.

“Moreover, the cost appears prohibitive. Too prohibitive, especially as Shell Petroleum Development Company last year sold its Martinez Refinery in California, USA, which is of a similar size as the Port Harcourt refinery, for $1.2 billion. We must bear in mind that the Shell Martinez Refinery is more profitable than the Port Harcourt Refinery.

“Given this discrepancy, might we ask if there was a public tender before this cost was announced? Was due diligence performed? Because we are certainly not getting value for money. Not by a long stretch.”

Atiku, who has been advocating the privatisation or sale of the refineries, argued that refinery is not worth expending the nation’s scarce resources on.

He explained that there are more important things to channel the fund to given the state of the nation’s economy.

“That Nigeria’s economy is in dire straits is a fact well known both to the nation and to our international partners. Unemployment has just reached an all-time high of 33%, while inflation has hit another record high of 17%,” Atiku tweeted.

“At this critical period, we must as a nation be prudent with the use of whatever revenue we can generate, and even if we must borrow, we must do so with the utmost responsibility and discipline.

“To therefore budget the sum of $1.5 billion to renovate or turn around the Port Harcourt Refinery would appear to be an unwise use of scarce funds at this critical juncture for an assortment of reasons.

“First of all, our refineries have been loss-making for multiple years, and indeed, it is questionable wisdom to throw good money after bad. At other times, I have counselled that the best course of action would be to privatise our refineries to be run more effectively and efficiently.

“We cannot as a nation expect to make economic progress if we continue to fund inefficiency, and we are going too deep into the debt trap for unnecessarily overpriced projects.”