Ex government officials willingly returning stolen funds – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that some former government officials have started voluntarily returning to the Federal Government’s coffers, part of the public funds they acquired illegally.

Mr. Buhari confirmed gave this indication during a question-and-answer session he had with members of the Nigerian community at the Nigerian House on Tuesday in Tehran, Iran.

He, however, stated that the present administration has intensified efforts at recovering all public funds now in the pockets of former government officials and their cronies.

He said the government was not satisfied with the partial return of the “looted funds”.

“On corruption, yes, they are still innocent.

“But, we are collecting documents and some of them have started voluntarily returning something. But we want all.

“When we get those documents then we will formally charge them to court and then we will tell Nigerians to know those who abused trust when they were entrusted with public funds or when they took it by force for 16 years.

“So, the day of reckoning is gradually approaching,” he said.

President Buhari explained that those accused of corruption would have been prosecuted by now but for the need to thoroughly investigate them to gather enough evidence for their eventual trial.

He said it was easy for him, during his tenure as military Head of State in 1985, to arrest and put alleged corrupt individuals “in protective custody” for them to prove their innocence.

He, however, said that at the moment, the dictates of the rule of law and due process had slowed him down in the prosecution of corruption cases.

(NAN)