By Daniel Kanu
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday accused accused the Minister of Defence, Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali, of diverting funds meant for military equipment and welfare of soldiers fighting the insurgency in the North-East, to produce partisan materials for the All Progressives Congress (APC) re-election campaign.
The leading opposition party accused the minister of diverting part of the military funds to produce APC’s campaign materials including an electronic momento book, on which he was alleged to have ascribed credit to himself and the APC.
The PDP said it was sad that this was happening when the soldiers were allegedly suffering neglect in the war front.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement in Abuja, which was made available to TheNiche, that the placing of APC logo alongside that of the Ministry of Defence on the momento confirmed the party’s position that the Buhari Presidency had compromised the nation’s defence architecture for the President’s re-election project.
He said, “Our party considers it insensitive and a gross impunity for the Minister of Defence to be engaging in patronising souvenirs for President Buhari at a time when our soldiers are being killed in their numbers.
“It is also instructive to note that President Muhammadu Buhari, as Mr. Integrity, has not reprimanded the minister, ostensibly, given that the diversion of public funds for his re-election campaign is now a policy of the APC and the Buhari Presidency.
“Nigerians can now see how the Buhari Presidency and the APC have turned the Ministry of Defence into their Automatic Teller Machine to fund their re-election, at the detriment of our citizens who are being attacked daily by insurgents and marauders in various parts of our country.
“There is a fixation in the Buhari Presidency on winning the 2019 elections at all cost even at the expense of the lives of Nigerians.
The PDP notes that with these revelations, the APC has proved to be a soulless mob, which has no interest in the good of our nation, but desperate to hang onto power by all means.”
The former ruling party, therefore, called for an open investigation into the handling of military funds to unravel those benefiting from the alleged racket especially some persons close to the President.
