Corrupt APC members will not escape justice – Buhari

.           ‘I’m ready to negotiate with real B/Haram leaders over Chibok girls’

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said no corrupt individual either in the All Progressives Congress (APC) or in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PD) would escape justice.

The President said he is determined to rid the country of corruption and improve its fortune.

Buhari stated these during an interview with CNN chief correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, on Tuesday evening.

He also said his government would not reject any move to negotiate with the Boko Haram sect, saying the government will seriously consider the credibility of any group or individual claiming to represent the sect before opening its doors for negotiation.

He said he was not against safe negotiation to secure the release of the girls and rehabilitate them.

“We must be very careful about the credibility of Boko Haram leadership coming to say they can deliver. I cannot be against negotiation. Our objective is to deliver the abducted Chibok girls. So we will not oppose negotiation.

“We have to be careful of the various people claiming to be leaders of the Boko Haram group. We are committed to ensuring their release and safe return to their parents and school.

“If we are convinced that those claiming to be leaders can deliver the girls, I am ready to negotiate with them on what they want,” Buhari stated.

Meanwhile, President Buhari has commended the World Bank for unfolding a package which would see it spending 2.1 billion dollars in rebuilding ravaged North-eastern part of Nigeria occasioned by Boko Haram insurgency.

The President made the commendation on Tuesday at a meeting in Washington DC with representatives of the bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

He, however, noted that apart from rebuilding the region in terms of infrastructure, priority must also be given to the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who now number over one million.

President Buhari urged the World Bank to send a team, which would work in concert with a team from the Federal Government, so that a proper assessment of needs could be done.

The World Bank would spend the 2.1 billion dollars through its IDA (International Development Agency), which gives low interest rates loans to government.

The first 10 years will be interest-free, while an additional 30 years will be at lower than capital market rate.

It was gathered that the World Bank was eager to move in quickly and give out the loans in order to give succor to the people of North-East.

WHO is also to invest 300 million dollars on immunisation against malaria in Nigeria, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will collaborate with Dangote Foundation to ensure that the country maintains its zero polio case record of the past one year.

“If the effort is sustained for another two years, Nigeria will be declared fully free of polio,” a Presidential aide on Buhari’s entourage to the U.S. said.