A former minister of information, Lai Mohammed, has dismissed the speculation about an unfriendly relationship between the administration of President Bola Tinubu and former ministers who served under former president Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

Mohammed stated this while reacting to the allegations of corruption levelled against some former ministers during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.

According to him, Buhari’s legacy was not on trial as the former president did so much in his eight-year administration.

“I don’t see any frosty relationship, frankly speaking. You see, from a person who had, back-to-back, been a spokesperson for the opposition and also a spokesperson to the government, I have seen both sides of the divide.

“And I can see why it would appear, probably at times, that, you know, there’s a discontinuation of one programme or the other, but really, like we say in politics, we campaign in poetry, but we rule in prose.

“It’s when you are inside the kitchen that you can perceive the odour and the flavour of the kitchen. I quite understand and appreciate what this administration is going through.

“You would have, necessarily, to reorder your priorities. That does not mean that you’re abandoning what the other administration has done,” he said.

Asked for his comments on the corruption allegations against some of Buhari’s former ministers, Mohammed said, “I think it’s very unfair to ask me to probably pronounce judgment on my colleagues or to make comments on what is actually already in court. But I don’t think, and I’m saying this with all sense of humility, that the legacy of Buhari is actually on trial.

“The legacy of Buhari is so huge, and it’s so enduring that it would be unfair to take the issue of a few ministers who have been alleged, and I must use this word very advisedly as if the entire legacy of [former] President Muhammadu Buhari is on trial.”

However, the former spokesman said some of the most enduring legacies of Buhari revolved around how the administration was able to leverage innovative strategies to communicate with the people and get feedback to the government.

“He did so much within his eight years, and that is actually the essence of this book — the management of the COVID pandemic is one, and another fact is on record that Nigeria is reputed to be the third-best country to have handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The issue of P&ID that you rightly mentioned is there for us to talk about the renovation of the National Theatre under my own watch is there to talk about as part of his [Buhari’s] legacy,” he added.

Among the former officials of the Buhari administration facing corruption allegations are a former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele; a former minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika; a former minister of humanitarian affairs, disasters management and social development, Sadia Umar-Farouk; a former minister of labour, Chris Ngige; and a former attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami.