Withdrawal of $1b from ECA: PDP asks NASS to sanction Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday charged the National Assembly to

commence constitutional processes against President Muhammadu Buhari for allegedly

violating his oath of office by “illegally withdrawing and spending $I

billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) without the constitutionally

required legislative appropriation.”

The opposition party said President Buhari was aware that “his unilateral spending of $496 million (N151.374 billion) from the ECA, without recourse to the legislative

approval of the National Assembly, is a gross violation of the laws and

constitution of Nigerian and a direct affront to our statutory order as

a democratic state.”

In a statement issued in Abuja, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, said, “By this action, President Buhari has technically suspended the 1999

Constitution (as amended), plundered the inherent powers of the National

Assembly as the principal institution of democratic rule, while

re-enacting a sole administratorship in governance as if our nation is

operating a military regime.”

“More disturbing is the revelation that President Buhari paid the $496

million for the purchase of military aircraft from the United States,

ignoring allegations of overprice and issues concerning due process,

just to achieve a political expediency of currying President Donald

Trump’s support for his 2019 re-election bid.”

The PDP said President Buhari’s action amounted to gross

misconduct and betrayal of public trust “because in the bid to push a

personal agenda, he deliberately side-stepped statutory legislative

scrutiny and acted in clear breach of section 80 (3) (4) of the 1999

Constitution (as amended).”

“While section 80 (3) states that “no moneys shall be withdrawn from any

public fund of the federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund

of the federation unless the issues of those moneys have been authorized

by an act of the National Assembly”, section 80 (4) provides that “no

moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any

other public fund of the federation except in the manner prescribed by

the National Assembly.”

“It is shocking that President Buhari, whose administration prides on

claims of transparency and zero tolerance for corruption, elected on a

platform that lays claim to the height of progressivism, who boasts of

the highest standards of integrity, can mundanely resort to a violent

abuse of our constitution just to suit a desperate passion of seeking

re-election.

“It would be recalled that following the public outcry over the

announcement that President Buhari had unilaterally approved the

withdrawal of $1 billion from the ECA, the Presidency, through his

Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Inang, on

April 9, 2018 stated that no such approval has been made, adding that

the President would never act in breach of section 80 of the

constitution; yet they were aware that payments have been made.

“The resort to falsehood, deception and secrecy in the withdrawal from

the ECA and the reported $469 million payment for the military aircraft

raises very serious issues regarding the integrity of the Buhari

Presidency.

“While we have nothing against any effort to ensure adequate security in

our land, we insist that such must be done within the ambits of due

process of our laws and the constitution.”

The PDP urged “President Donald Trump, as the President of the world’s

biggest democracy, to note that the $469 million paid for the purchase

of military aircraft, forms part of proceed for illegal activities of

our President, who has violated statutory provisions of our constitution

to pursue a selfish agenda.”

“We therefore charge the National Assembly to investigate the whereabouts

of the balance from the $1 billion ECA fund and the purposes for which it has

been taken, as well as save our democracy and constitutional order by

invoking appropriate legislative processes against President Buhari for

this violation, before it becomes too late.”