Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has waged his war on corruption. The Leader of the armed forces has demonstrated he has no tolerance for corruption and has proved his point by re-opening large scale corruption scandals from the past.

The $180 million Halliburton bribery scandal dating back to 1994; indicted numerous senior officials in Nigeria including three Nigerian presidents and the American ex-vice president Dick Cheney. 

Simplified, the Nigerian government were to execute the Bonny Island Natural Liquefied Gas Project. And like many Nigerian contracts, these are rarely awarded based on merit. Some international companies looking to secure the $6billion contract remitted $182million to Nigerian officials that included a subsidiary of Halliburton.  

The United States of America had promptly investigated, prosecuted and jailed its nationals indicted in the multi-million dollar bribery scandal. Jeffry Tesler, a British lawyer involved in the corruption scandals has already served his 21-month jail time while Nigerians still wait for justice.

In an attempt to bring Nigerian officials to the book, the Jonathan administration re opened the case following America’s insistence that the culprits in the bribery scandal must be prosecuted before the $130million in US capital can be returned to Nigeria. America also insisted that the $26.5million plea bargain paid by Construction giant, Julius Berger, be located and handed over to the police as it was reported missing.

Nothing seems to be clearer as Nigerians indicted in the international bribery scandal have been walking like free men. The Executive Director of The Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CentreP), Mr. OghenejaborIkimi said about the Buhari administration:

‘’We believe that the above directive has signalled the beginning of the prosecution and the jailing of culprits involved in high profile corruption cases by the Nigerian government, and we also believe that the above (Buhari admin) would help to teach public officeholders with scratchy palms the need to respect public funds kept under their care.”