Buhari is corrupt, may be least corrupt leader in Africa, says Washington Post

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is corrupt but not to the same degree with other African leaders, The Washington Post has suggested.

The authoritative American newspaper compared Buhari with other newspapers in a story published on Saturday and said in its headline: “With only $150,000 in savings, Nigeria’s leader may be the least corrupt in Africa”.

The headline suggest that all African leaders are corrupt but that Buhari, 72, a retired army general and former military ruler, “may be the least corrupt” among the lot.

The Washington Post story was credited to Sudarsan Raghavan, who was introduced as “The Post’s Kabul bureau chief since 2014” but who “was previously based in Nairobi and Baghdad for the Post.”

The story did not give evidence of Buhari’s alleged corruption but dwelt on his declared assets, which shows that he has $150,000 in his savings account; five homes and two mud houses; an orchard and ranch with 270 head of cattle; 25 sheep; five horses and a variety of birds” in addition to two cars bought from his savings.

According to The Washington Post, “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.”

News Express reports that while Buhari’s declared assets may appear modest when converted to US dollars, it is however a monumental sum in the Nigerian currency, the naira, and contradicts the image of a poor man which Buhari presented to the public before his election as President on March 28, 2015. (News Express, The Washington Post)