By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Disclosure by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that a female minister siphoned $37.5 million public funds to acquire private property reiterates that Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency is “a sanctuary of corruption.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) pointed this accusing finger despite the monumental financial corruption of its own members when the party ruled between 1999 and 2015.
Nigerians elected Buhari in 2015 on his promise to fight greed and graft. He has not delivered. Corruption has flourished under his watch.
Buhari’s ministers and other members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are simply looting the treasury with impunity, just as it happened in the PDP administration.
“Such corruption can only be permissible under a leader like Buhari,” PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, insisted in a statement which kept mum on the millions PDP loyalists stole from the treasury when the party held federal power.
Ologbondiyan cited the interview on Arise Television last in which Buhari admitted that his Presidency is infested by corrupt officials but said they are eased out with their loot instead of being exposed, investigated, and prosecuted.
The PDP challenged EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa to name the female minister and “stop the … process of easing out corrupt people in Buhari’s cabinet.”
The statement added that “the PDP has also been made aware of how other cabinet ministers, including those indicted for siphoning and diverting funds meant for parastatals and agencies under their purview, are being shielded from prosecution.
“Nigerians are invited to note how ministers in the Buhari administration have not been prosecuted despite reports of seething treasury looting in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as well as revenue generating and controlling agencies such as NNPC, NPA, FIRS, NEMA, NDDC, NIMASA, EFCC, among others.”
The PDP said it is appalled by reports that the Buhari administration has failed to pay the 774,000 youths it recruited from the 774 councils across the country under the Extended Special Public Works (ESPW).
“Such callous act has further vindicated our position that the APC government is nothing but a scam which only thrives on fake promises and treasury looting.
“The PDP holds as wicked and sacrilegious that the Buhari Presidency and the APC could drag out our youths, only for government officials, as ministers and heads of parastatals, to use them as cover to divert public funds.
“Our party is shocked by reports in the media that thousands of participants are yet to be paid the monthly N20,000 while a few were only paid for one month, despite the huge allocation release for the scheme.
“It is, to say the least, despicable that at every turn, one is confronted by woeful tales of treasury looting, fleecing of Nigerians, lies, deception, and fake promises by an administration that parades a ‘holier than thou’ posturing.”