- PDP urges NASS to appropriate the $311m Abacha loot, says APC Cabal planning to loot the repatriated fund
- PDP is frustrated by lack of assess to loot public funds, APC counters
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
What to do with the $311 million which the former military dictator, General Sani Abacha, looted from the national treasury has become the new reason for war of words between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
The looted fund which was repatriated to the coffers of the federal government from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey was confirmed on Monday.
The raging battle was started by the PDP which claimed on Wednesday that it had uncovered fresh plots by the “cabal in the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use fake subheads and duplicated projects as ploy to re-loot the recently repatriated $311 million,” and urged the National Assembly to appropriate the fund.
But the APC countered the claim by alleging that it was borne out of PDP’s frustration over lack of assess to loot public funds
A statement by the PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiya, said the APC cabal had perfected the use of fake subheads as nomenclatures to mislead those who repatriated the fund and pave way for the frittering of the money to their private pockets as they had done with earlier repatriated funds.
The PDP said part of the strategy of the cabal was to “hype hazy
subheads and stampede the dissipation of the funds without the statutory
approval of the National Assembly, which enables them to muddle up
accountability processes, conceal their fraud and divert the attention
of the unsuspecting public from the scam.”
“The fraudulent dissipation of the funds will then be followed with false
performance claims as well as blackmailing and intimidation of Nigerians
demanding for both transparency and accountability in the handling of
the money,” the statement further claimed.
The party noted that “such had become the standard ruse for the cabal and
APC leaders, who also looted the earlier repatriated $322 million under
the guise of sharing money to the poor in 19 states and had no answers
to allegations that more than 90 percent of the 300,000 households
listed as beneficiaries were phony family names.
“Nigerians would recall how the claims of the APC Government was
rubbished by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, who had alerted the nation
that the N500 billion Social Investment Programme of the Buhari
administration was hugely shrouded in corruption and that bulk of the
money did not get to the poor and vulnerable.”
The statement read in part:
“Furthermore, the Federal Government had failed to publish the details of
the alleged APC leaders who own the consulting firms that was allegedly
paid billions of naira up front, as consultancy fee for the “sharing”
of the money, which was not also passed through the constitutionally
required approval of the National Assembly.
“The APC-led Federal Government had also failed to account for the $308
million repatriated in February, for which it cannot point to any
project, but rather faced with allegations of unbridled looting by the
cabal and certain APC leaders, including those exposed to be receiving
huge percentages from repatriated funds.
“The PDP invites Nigerians to note that the APC government had remained
silent on the report by the US Department of State that the Federal
Government plots to funnel this repatriated money to certain individuals
connected to the APC.
“The report had exposed that the Federal Government was even in the
process of funneling $100 million of the funds to Kebbi State Governor,
Atiku Bagudu, the Chairman of APC Governors Forum, who was reportedly
indicted by the US for allegedly helping in transferring billions of
dollar out of the country during the military era.
“It is also strange that the Federal Government is keeping an ominous
silence on how much, in line with its style, would be farmed out to
vested interests as legal fees on the repatriated funds.”
The PDP counseled that the repatriated fund should be safeguarded from the antics of the APC cabal.
“Our party demands that the fund should be surrendered to the National
Assembly for proper statutory appropriation and urge Nigerians to resist
schemes by the cabal to prevent them from demanding explanations on the
looting of repatriated funds.”
But reacting to PDP’s allegations, the APC said going by the opposition party’s statement on the recovered funds, it was clear that the party was salivating over the Abacha loot, saddened by a missed opportunity to share the money as they used to.
A statement by its national publicity secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said, “Unfortunately, PDP is unable to rid corruption from its DNA and until the party has the courage to burn its corruption handbook to ashes, it would be difficult for it not to hallucinate over public funds.”
The ruling party which said it understood PDP’s frustrations claim that “Their unsuccessful and serial attempt to tar the APC government with the corruption toga in order to blur its own image as a party that personifies corruption in words and deeds has turned the party into a laughing stock.
“For the umpteenth time, we remind the PDP that the government that the APC runs is not about sharing public funds amongst the ruling class, but about using tax payers’ money to impact positively on the lives of the people.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Federal Government on Monday confirmed the receipt of some $311 million, stolen from Nigeria during the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha and repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey.
“The recovery consolidates on President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to recover our stolen commonwealth and other proceeds of corruption – locally and internationally. Recall that this administration similarly recovered $322 million from Switzerland in 2018, as part of monies stolen by Abacha which has been transparently and judiciously deployed in the funding of social investment programmes, including the free school feeding scheme, stipends for millions of disadvantaged citizens, and grain grants for those in severe food hardship as specified in the agreement signed with the Switzerland and the World Bank.
“Nigerians living on the margins and affected by the economic effect of COVID-19 have also benefitted from government palliatives partly funded by the recovered stolen funds.
“On the recovery of $311 million, we refer the PDP to the 2020 Asset Return Agreement which requires the fund to be transferred to a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Asset Recovery designated account and which would then be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) designated as the project management and execution authority within the next fourteen days.
“The federal government has committed itself that the assets will be invested in expediting the construction of major infrastructure projects across Nigeria, and particularly, this administration’s legacy projects, namely: Lagos – Ibadan Expressway; Abuja – Kaduna-Kano Expressway and the Second Niger Bridge as well as the Mambilla Power Project which, when completed, will provide electricity to some three million homes in Nigeria.
“We invite the PDP to join the clamour for greater cooperation amongst countries in honouring the international agreements set out in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and in the implementation of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) principles on the repatriation of stolen assets.
“The PDP should understand that the funds being repatriated under the President Buhari government is an indictment on successive PDP administrations which many countries found too corrupt and with a renowned propensity to reloot the stolen monies, hence they held on to much of the funds.
“When the PDP administration under President Olusegun Obasanjo left office on 29 May 2007, the government had recouped $2 billion, including the $825 million previously retrieved by General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Switzerland and Bailiwick of Jersey also repatriated $149 million in November 2003 and £22.5 million in June 2011, among other international and local recoveries by successive PDP governments which were shrouded in secrecy.
“Successive PDP governments strangely resisted widespread calls to periodically publish detailed information on the loot recovery exercise – the amounts recovered, those from whom they were recovered, sources or countries from where they were recovered.
“More importantly, questions about how recouped funds were used were never addressed which led to lack of enthusiasm among host countries towards meeting Nigeria’s requests for the return of stolen assets, until now.
“It is clear that the US, UK and other countries holding our looted funds and assets have now found a trusted government led by President Buhari to return stolen assets and it is our collective pride as a country to regain the trust of the international community.”
