An international news agency, the Agence France-Presse, AFP, has declared that the war against corruption currently being waged by President Muhammadu Buhari can only succeed if he zeroes in on his immediate predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

It warned that the many corruption cases being prosecuted by the Buhari -led administration may spin off to imperil his war against corruption, if Jonathan was not brought in as a key witness to the alleged crimes of the persons standing trial at various courts in the country.

The French news agency made its stand known in an editorial published yesterday which was titled: “the Goodluck Jonathan alibi” where it recalled that Buhari had previously warned the Nigeria’s financially-powerful elite that it was “no longer business as usual.”

“But with Nigeria in economic crisis as a result of the collapsing price of oil, analysts say Buhari can ill afford to alienate Jonathan and his allies, even if it threatens success in court,” it warned.

According to the AFP, “It would be easy to believe that Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is winning the war against corruption since his landmark election victory nearly a year ago. Hardly a week goes by without the country’s anti-graft agency announcing new arrests and investigations to add to the prominent politicians already in the dock.

“But the longer the cases already brought to court drag on, the clearer it becomes that a potential setback could prevent Buhari from securing the convictions he has promised — and Nigerians demand.

“Certainly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has not implicated the former head of state in any of its ongoing investigations.
“But his glaring absence is increasingly posing problems for state prosecutors as the preliminary stages of cases are heard in court and trials get under way”.