AFRICANGLOBE – By the standards of most leaders, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is dirt-poor.
According to a statement released by his government, he has $150,000 in his savings account. He owns five homes and an orchard and ranch with 270 head of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses and a variety of birds. He has bought two cars from his savings.
“President Buhari had no foreign account, no factory and no enterprises. He also had no registered company and no oil wells,” reads the statement released by the spokesman, Garba Shehu, describing the president’s assets as “Spartan.”
The question on many minds is this: Is Buhari, Nigeria’s former military ruler and ex-head of the oil ministry, telling the truth?
Corruption, after all, is a major problem in Africa’s largest economy. Buhari himself has publicly said that more than $150 billion is missing from the government’s coffers. Still, the public declaration appears to be an attempt to show some much-needed transparency. Buhari was elected in March largely by promising that he wouldn’t tolerate corruption.
What’s clear is that Buhari has done what his predecessors — and most other African leaders — have never done.
Everyone in Abuja is just talking about how their vice-president is richer than President Buhari after wealth declaration!
— Cynthia Nyamai (@CynthiaNyamai) September 4, 2015
Consider these five other African leaders. They have been labeled by Forbes Magazine as the “five worst leaders in Africa.”
Nigeria’s new president shows everyone his bank balance – and it’s not that much http://t.co/NQSzsNXXDO pic.twitter.com/2DJKfUcY1K — The Independent (@Independent) September 4, 2015
