The
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday charged President Muhammadu Buhari and
the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC-led administration to tell Nigerians
what they know about the N9
trillion ($25 billion) contract scam allegedly
perpetrated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, under their
watch. However, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
said: “I do not know anything about the alleged contracts awarded by NNPC they
are talking about. ‘’I think the right person to ask to react to the allegation
is the Minister of Petroleum, Ibe kachukwu. I think what they should do is to
go to the Minister of Petroleum Resources and find out. ‘’On my own part, since
I do now about it, I will still make enquiry on that. For me, it is not
possible for NNPC to award such a high magnitude contracts without due process.
By the way, what are the details of the contracts? and where are they?” But
addressing a press conference yesterday with the theme, “Where Is President
Buhari’s fight against corruption?”, the party urged the President to come
clean and live up to his name as ‘Mr. Clean’ by throwing more light on the N48
billion meant for the upkeep of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, but which
was allegedly diverted by officials of government. National Publicity Secretary
of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, who addressed journalists at PDP national
secretariat yesterday, accused the Buhari’s Presidency of providing cover for
corrupt elements in government, while simultaneously harassing opposition
figures under the guise of fighting corruption.
“The PDP challenges President Buhari to
explain why his anti-corruption fight has not been extended to investigate the
corruption from the leaked memo detailing alleged underhand oil contracts to
the tune of N9 trillion ($25billion dollars) at the NNPC and the Ministry of
Petroleum Resources, which are under the direct supervision of President Buhari
as Minister of Petroleum Resources. Why has investigation into this scam been
suppressed? “The PDP challenges the Buhari Presidency and the APC to explain to
the world why his anti-corruption fight has not been extended to the
internationally reported diversion and alleged stealing of N18 billion out of
the N48 billion approved by the National Assembly for the rehabilitation of
millions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and rebuilding of six North
East states ravaged by insurgency in the 2017 budget,” he said. Taking a swipe
at the Commander-in- Chief for his style of leadership in the past three years,
PDP stated further: “Can the Presidency and the APC claim to be unaware of the
motion by Senator Baba Kaka Garba from Borno Central, who exposed how persons
known to have connections with the APC fraudulently cornered N1.2 billion from
the Federal Government under the guise of supplying items to IDPs?
“The Buhari
Presidency and the APC-led federal government have been doing all to divert
public attention from their ocean of corruption and primitive stealing,
including launching a brutal attack on the opposition, hounding innocent
Nigerians for no just cause and seizing the airwaves to brand everybody else as
corrupt, while underneath they shamelessly pillage our nation’s resources.” Not
done, Ologbondiyan also tasked President Buhari in his capacity as substantive
Minister of Petroleum Resources to speak up on the dark clouds surrounding
subsidy payment for Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, noting that the N58 fuel tax
being paid by Nigerians under his stewardship called for soul-searching. He
continued: “The PDP challenges President Buhari to explain to Nigerians whose
interest he is protecting by refusing to allow an independent inquest into the
alleged corruption in the handling of the N1.4 trillion oil subsidy regime
allegedly involving officials at the Presidency, particularly those benefiting
from alleged N58 hidden tax per liter which Nigerians have continued to bear
since the fuel price increased from PDP subsidized cost of N87 to presumably
unsubsidized cost of N145.”
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