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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to account for the N800 billion loots the administration claimed it has since recovered.
The call by the PDP followed a claim made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed that the federal government has recovered N800 billion from looters.
Mohammed made the claim while addressing a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
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“This administration has recorded over 1,400 convictions, including high profile ones, and recovered funds in excess of N800 billion, not to talk of forfeiture of ill-gotten properties. This is no mean feat.
“Our fight against corruption is blind to party affiliation, position in government and any other consideration. If the nation’s anti-corruption Czar can be investigated, then the fight against corruption cannot be deemed to be fake, neither can it be said to be waning,” he said.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan challenged the Buhari’s government to account for the money, alleging that recovered monies have been re-looted by officials.
Ologbondiyan, while speaking at a press conference Wednesday, also alleged that efforts are ongoing to sabotage current probe into allegations of corruption in some ministries and agencies of government including the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The party warned against any attempt to divert attention away from sundry investigations bordering on the disappearance of transparency, accountability and integrity among top officials.
“We challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC) federal government to give account of the N800 billion, which Lai Mohammed claimed to have been recovered, especially given allegations that recovered monies have been re-looted and shared among topmost officials of the Buhari administration and APC leaders.
“Nigerians have noted the blackmails, intimidation and threats coming from government quarters, in their feverish bid to frustrate whistleblowers and truncate on-going uncovering of widespread corruption in ministries, departments and agencies, under the APC administration, for which Nigerians cannot wait to see the exit of this party of horrendous looters.
“One of such antics by this administration was the Tuesday July 28, 2020 press conference by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, wherein he dared Nigerians, particularly whistleblowers, despite revelations of rampant corruption virtually in all aspects of government under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Our party is however not surprised that this corrupt administration resorted to distortion of facts and daring of citizens when its officials from the top to the bottom are all soiled in the foul potage of corruption.
“It is ridiculous that this administration seeks to claim credit for the investigation and unearthing of fraud in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when it is already public knowledge that the investigation only came as a result of pressure mounted by our party and other Nigerians.
“This is more so as the corruption in the economic and financial crimes commission EFCC under the APC had reached an embarrassing crescendo that it could no longer be concealed.
“Such humongous corruption in the EFCC under the APC confirms the level of financial malfeasance and a shameful breach of trust by this administration, in which very top officials of the Buhari Presidency had been mentioned,” the party said.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that rather than resorting to false performance claims, the expectation of Nigerians is that this administration would have sent Lai Mohammed to apologise for this display of gross abuse of position especially as it relates to the fight against corruption.
“We further invite Nigerians to note that Lai Mohammed, in his press conference, admitted that he could not go into the details of the various corruption issues in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), EFCC and other agencies.
“Our party holds that this is an evasion of gory tales of direct stealing, treasury looting and barefaced embezzlements by government officials and APC leaders as already exposed in on-going investigations at the National Assembly and at the presidential panel.
“With this shocking suppression of information related to corrupt practices, by no other person than the minister of information, Nigerians and the world at large are no longer in doubt that concealment of corruption in ministries, department and agencies is an official policy of the APC administration because their leaders are involved.
“This is the same reason the APC and its government had suppressed the prosecution of officials indicted in the N90 billion stolen from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in which top members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were mentioned.
“This is in addition to the suppression of prosecution of APC leaders involved in the reported looting of N33billion from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the stealing of over N18 billion from the rehabilitation of IDPs in the Northeast as well as the over N25 billion from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) among others,” the party said.
The party also challenged Lai Mohammed to offer some explanations on his alleged role in the reported National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) N2.5 billion fraud, for which Nigerians had demanded his investigation by the ICPC.
“As a party, we sympathize with our nation for having an administration that is replete with looters, who in the last five years have been dipping their leprous hands into the till at the expense of governance while Mr. President’s silence makes him complicit.
“Nigerians already know that due to the level of corruption in this government the eight years of this administration will unfortunately end up as a wasted era, in which life of the ordinary Nigerians have failed to find any sort of improvement; be it on the economy, security, education, healthcare, urban development and other critical sectors.
“Indeed, the stench of humongous corruption oozing out of an administration that claimed to have come to clean an alleged Augean stable have constituted a huge embarrassment to Nigerians in the face of economic, political and security misery confronting our people in the last five years,” The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claims.
