President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to probe former president Goodluck Jonathan-led administration yesterday got the backing of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement issued in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC maintained that it would amount to dereliction of duty if President Buhari turned a blind eye to the issues relating to alleged mismanagement and misapplication of public funds under the President Jonathan-led administration.
According to APC, “the revelations of mind-boggling corruption that are just beginning to emerge have made such a probe imperative. Some people have insinuated that the Buhari administration should ignore the massive looting of our patrimony and move on. We say no responsible government can afford to do that, because it will amount to endorsing corruption and impunity.’’
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The party alleged that in the oil sector alone, billions of dollars have been skimmed off by pathologically-corrupt public officials, wondering how the government of the day can meet its obligations to the citizens if it refuses to recover the huge funds taken away by thieving officials.
‘’It is an irony that those who are suggesting that the Buhari administration should turn a blind eye to the incomprehensible looting are the same ones accusing the government of not doing anything. It is even a cruel irony that the same party that presided over what is fast emerging as the worst governance in the history of our country is the same one that is daily bad-mouthing an administration that is cleaning up its mess,’’ APC said.
The party said even if all the acts of corruption that were allegedly perpetrated during the tenure of the last administration are limited to what is now in the public domain, it is still absolutely exigent for the Buhari administration to do all it can to bring the perpetrators to book and recover the looted funds.
‘’Where does one start from? Is it the fact that the NNPC failed to remit N3.8 trillion to the Federation Account or the mind-blowing stealing of 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day? Is it the fact that the NNPC itself does not know how many bank accounts it had or into which ones the payments for Nigerian crude are made? Could anyone have imagined that a government minister would steal the
unprecedentedly-huge amount of $6 billion of public funds as being alleged?
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‘’How does any sane person rationalize the fact that $1 billion was unilaterally and illegally withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account just because, as the immediate past Minister of Finance has disclosed, the President ordered the withdrawal? What about the billions of Naira waivers recklessly approved to dubious importers by the Jonathan administration?
‘’Is it not clear now that the stealing and the profligacy – more than anything else, including the fall in oil price – helped to drastically reduce the monthly allocation from the Federation Account from about N800 billion to about N400 billion, thus pauperizing the states and the local governments, and by extension the citizenry?
‘’Against the background of the stunning revelations, what message will any government be sending to its citizens and indeed the global community by looking the other way, when it could still recover some of the looted funds for the benefit of the people? This is why we are supporting the Buhari administration’s probe decision, and calling on all Nigerians to support ongoing efforts to get to the root of the matter,’’ APC said.
According to APC, “it is now clear that the Jonathan Administration cleverly delayed giving the then incoming Buhari government the handover note so as to avoid being asked critical questions pertaining to the unprecedented looting under its watch.”
