The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on Nigerians to reject and
resist the renewed attempt by the Presidency to loot $1billion from the
national coffers to finance President Muhammadu Buhari’s interests in
the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s national convention and 2019
campaign.
The party also urged the National Assembly to commence appropriate
constitutional legislative actions against President Buhari for gross
misconduct in unilaterally approving the release of the fund without
allowing for the application of legislative instrument.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola
Ologbondiyan, on Thursday, said its investigation revealed that the
Presidency willfully sidestepped the National Assembly so as to avoid
legislative scrutiny and accountability and pave way for the diverting
of the fund for selfish partisan purposes.
It is a notorious fact that the Presidency and the APC have been
plotting to loot this $I billion from our heavily depleted Excess Crude
Account (ECA) since last year, using the guise of fight against
insurgency.
This is the same Buhari administration that has been boasting of having
technically defeated the insurgents. This is also an administration that
is not known to have exhausted subsisting budgetary allocations for
defense.
Nigerians are thoroughly disappointed that President Buhari; the same
African Union (AU) ‘anti-corruption champion’, who swore to be above
board and to protect the constitution and our laws, will allow himself
to fall for the temptation of resorting to ways and means which are
totally at variance with the laws and all democratic tenets.
Democracy thrives on constitutional processes of separation of powers,
due diligence and transparency and not on totalitarian tendencies.
PDP believes the President, as a leader, reasonably ought to have known
that he is in no way above the law.
We therefore urge the National Assembly to look into the constitution
and impose appropriate legislative instruments against Mr President, if
any part of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) has been breached by this
unilateral decision.
We further urge the National Assembly to scrutinize the constitution and
other statute books for the purposes of strengthening the laws guiding
the application of funds in our country, particularly under this
inherently corrupt and incompetent administration.
Moreover, since it has come to light that the Buhari administration is
using the fight against insurgency as a conduit to siphon funds, as
evinced in the alleged looting of the N18 billion Internally Displaced
Persons (IDP)’s funds, we demand for an independent investigation into
the processes of release and utilization of all special funds for war
against insurgency in the last three years.
The APC is in shreds and has lost the enormous goodwill that brought it
to power in 2015 after failing in all its promises to Nigerians.
