- Urges NASS To Appropriate Fund Urgently
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that there are “fresh plots by the cabal in the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC)” to reloot the $311 million recently repatriated from Abacha’s pillage abroad.
The New Diplomat reported on Monday that the Federal Government received over $311.7 million of former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha loot repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey.
The PDP alleged that the cabal had perfected the use of fake subheads as nomenclatures to mislead those who repatriated the fund. According to it, this is to pave way for the frittering of the money to private pockets.
Read also: Allegations: PDP Ruing Missed Opportunity To Access Abacha Loot –APC
The party’s allegations were contained in a statement signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan and made available to The New Diplomat Wednesday.
“Part of the strategy of the cabal is to hype hazy subheads and stampede the dissipation of the funds without the statutory approval of the National Assembly, which enables them to muddle up accountability processes, conceal their fraud and divert the attention of the unsuspecting public from the scam.
“The fraudulent dissipation of the funds will then be followed with false performance claims as well as blackmailing and intimidation of Nigerians demanding for both transparency and accountability in the handling of the money.
PDP further accused the APC of looting the earlier repatriated $322 million under the guise of sharing money to the poor in 19 states, saying the party had no answers to allegations that more than 90 percent of the 300,000 households listed as beneficiaries were phony family names.
“Nigerians would recall how the claims of the APC Government was rubbished by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, who had alerted the nation that the N500 billion Social Investment Programme of the Buhari administration was hugely shrouded in corruption and that bulk of the money did not get to the poor and vulnerable.
“Furthermore, the Federal Government had failed to publish the details of the alleged APC leaders who own the consulting firms that was allegedly paid billions of naira up front, as consultancy fee for the “sharing” of the money, which was not also passed through the constitutionally required approval of the National Assembly.
“The APC-led Federal Government had also failed to account for the $308 million repatriated in February, for which it cannot point to any project, but rather faced with allegations of unbridled looting by the cabal and certain APC leaders, including those exposed to be receiving huge percentages from repatriated funds,” the statement read.
PDP stated that the APC-led government had remained silent on the report by the US Department of State that the Federal Government plots to funnel the repatriated money to certain individuals connected to the APC.
“The report had exposed that the Federal Government was even in the process of funneling $100 million of the funds to Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, the Chairman of APC Governors Forum, who was reportedly indicted by the US for allegedly helping in transferring billions of dollar out of the country during the military era.
“It is also strange that the Federal Government is keeping an ominous silence on how much, in line with its style, would be farmed out to vested interests as legal fees on the repatriated funds.”
The PDP counseled that the repatriated $311 million should be safeguarded from the antics of the APC cabal, asking the National Assembly to quickly appropriate the fund for important projects and interventions.
“Our party demands that the fund should be surrendered to the National Assembly for proper statutory appropriation and urge Nigerians to resist schemes by the cabal to prevent them from demanding explanations on the looting of repatriated funds.”
Meanwhile, the Attorney-General of Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had on Monday said the recovered loot will support and assist in expediting the construction of the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, Abuja – Kano Road, and the Second Niger Bridge.
The recovery effort, Malami said, further consolidates on the established record of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari-led government which has a history of recovery of $322 million from Switzerland in 2018 which is being deployed in supporting indigent Nigerians as specified in the agreement signed with the Switzerland and the World Bank.
“In line with the 2020 Asset Return Agreement, the fund has been transferred to a Central Bank of Nigeria Asset Recovery designated account and would be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) within the 14 days. The NSIA is responsible for the management and execution of the projects to which the funds will be applied,” the minister said.
