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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday slammed President Muhammadu Buhari over his silence on the $25 billion scandal rocking the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The party said Buhari’s silence is an indication that the Federal Government “is not sincere in its anti -corruption war.”
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, stated this at a press briefing, in Abuja, after a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) at its national secretariat.
Adeyeye said the PDP was shocked by President Buhari’s silence on “the humongous corruption scandal and other illegalities” being exposed at the NNPC by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu and Group Managing Director (GMD) of the agency, Maikanti Baru.
He said the opposition party has cause to believe that the $25 billion is part of funds being kept in a pool by the federal government to fund President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection in 2019. He said the NNPC scandal has exposed the hypocrisy of the present administration’s anti-corruption war.
The opposition party spokesman challenged President Buhari to prove the PDP wrong by allowing “his allies being caught up in acts of brazen stealing of our commonwealth”, to be prosecuted in accordance with the country’s Constitution.
Adeyeye said: “We suspect, and our suspicion is reinforced by the unfolding events, that powerful people at the corridors of power are tacitly involved in this.
“If the president’s powerful Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, could sit on the NNPC board and such a calamity is taking place without an eyelid being blinked, we are forced to believe that the stealing is being done to the advantage of the president, who has shown by his body language that the only thing that matter most to him, for now, is his second term ambition.
“Will it be considered a ‘hate speech ‘ if we say the money being stolen by President Buhari’s men are being kept aside into a special pool for the prosecution of his second term ambition?” he queried.
While demanding the immediate suspension of the NNPC boss to enable proper investigation into issue, Adeyeye said the allegations levelled against Baru must not be swept under the carpet.
The PDP said allegations against the NNPC GMD by Kachukwu confirmed its stance that “the APC administration is in tatters, an administration without coordination, but one planted firmly in the hands of a few cabal, who are stealing the nation dry while the president continues to feign ignorance of the sickening stench.”
Adeyeye added that it was the stealing of the country’s commonwealth that led the country into an economic recession.
“The $25 billion said to have been the subject of the latest controversy, when converted to naira, is about N9 trillion, a sum that is bigger than the country’s annual budget.
“This is one of the very many reasons, the nation’s economy has nosedived under the inept administration of the APC,” Adeyeye said.
He added: Less than 10 percent of that ($2 billion) is involved in the so called arms fund allegedly diverted by the former National Security Officer (NSA) for which hundreds of Nigerians have been arrested and hounded. Nigerians can now see the hypocrisy in the so called anti-corruption fight. We may as well say that the privileged class of APC members enjoy total immunity from the anti-corruption campaign.”
