The governing All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples
Democratic Party on Sunday engaged in a war of words over the state of
the economy as well as cases of alleged looting by the former President
Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP administration.
In separate statements
in Abuja, the APC and the PDP accused one another of economic
mismanagement and of filtering away public finds.
In a statement
signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC
said the party has uncovered a list of new cases of the insane looting
of the treasury by some officials of the Jonathan’s administration,
saying the corruption mess that characterised the administration was so
pervasive that until it is cleaned, Nigeria will not be able to
actualise its potential.
The party said those who would rather
give comfort to the looters by dismissing the media exposure of looting
cases as mere hell-raising should realise that no sane person can be
silent in the face of what was unfolding as the worst cases of brazen
stealing of public funds in Nigeria’s history.
It recalled that
on August 16, 2015, the party listed some instances of the breath-taking
looting of the treasury by some officials of the immediate past
administration.
The party said it was today bringing to light
three more heart-rending cases to the attention of Nigerians. It listed
the new cases as a mind-shattering $2.2bn (about N440bn) arms scandal; a
$6.9m fraud by the Chief Security Officer to President Jonathan,
committed under the guise of buying three mobile stages for the
President; and a N2.5bn scam involving the rent of house boats.
The
statement partly read, ‘’While those charged with handling these cases
are finalising the details of bringing the suspects to justice, our
immediate concern is the attempt by the PDP, under whose umbrella the
looting took place, to blame the Buhari administration for the mess and
then infer that things have been worse in Nigeria in the past three
months under the APC-led Federal Government than in the 16 years under
the PDP. This is totally provocative, shameless and uncharitable.
“They
say we are yet to fulfil our campaign promises to Nigeria, but they
have forgotten that if only the PDP/Jonathan administration had not
stolen Nigeria blind, there would have been more than enough money to
give school children in Nigeria, not just one but three meals a day and
even pay N5, 000 to N50m to most vulnerable Nigerians, not just the N25m
we promised in our manifesto.
“It is clear to all Nigerians that
the debilitating impact of 16 years of the PDP’s misrule cannot be
reversed in just three months.”
In response, the PDP insisted that the stealing of public funds has been going on under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch.
It
said that rather than hide their heads in shame for its abysmal
performance in the last 90 days, leaders of the APC and the Presidency
have continued to grope and look for excuses.
The PDP National
Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh,who said this in a statement in
Abuja on Sunday, said discerning minds were appalled that instead of
providing answers to issues of economic retrogression, the Presidency
and the APC have resorted to wild allegations and insults in an attempt
to cover their ineptitude and divert attention from their list of bogus
promises which they have no intention to fulfil.
He said, “The
PDP has severally expressed its support for a holistic fight against
corruption and we have challenged the Federal Government to investigate
and prosecute all corrupt persons irrespective of ethnic and political
affiliations.
“We are therefore appalled that instead of getting
serious with the challenges of governance, the APC is bent on inventing
excuse for its crass incompetence to create and manage wealth, to the
detriment of the nation.
“We challenge the APC and the Presidency to be honest enough to respond to issues instead of resorting to propaganda.
“Is the so-called mess clearing an answer for the adamant stance of the APC
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