PDP claims that $38.6bn has been lost to corruption while Buhari has been in office

PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) officials have accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of hypocrisy in its ongoing fight against corruption saying that a total of N14trn ($38.6bn) has been embezzled under its watch over the last four years.

In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari was elected to office on the platform of the APC with a promise to eliminate corruption and introduce probity in public finance. He has had some success as several former public officers have been tried and found guilty but critics say the prosecutions have been lopsided as only PDP politicians have been jailed.

Pointing out that the government is being hypocritical and dishonest, the PDP said the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari were desperate to remain in power in order to prevent investigations into the loss of N14trn under its watch. PDP publicity secretary Kola Ologbondiyan, alleged that the stolen money included the N9tn allegedly taken from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources

He added that this was detailed in the leaked Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s memo on the over N1.4tn alleged oil subsidy sleaze and the N1.1tn worth of crude allegedly diverted using 18 unregistered companies. Mr Ologbondiyan listed other cases of fraud to include the N33bn National Emergency Management Agency fund and the over N18bn allegedly stolen out of the N48bn approved by the National Assembly in the 2017 budget for the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons in the northeast.

According to Mr Ologbondiyan, the present administration’s unwholesome borrowing led to the escalation of the nation’s debt stock from N12.12tn in 2015 to N24.39tn in 2018. He added that within three years, President Buhari’s administration had borrowed N12.27tn and yet could not point to any significant project which the money was invested in.

Mr Ologbondiyan said: “The President Muhammadu Buhari-led presidency and the APC are desperate to remain in power at all costs, so as to continue to exploit Nigerians, protect the APC corrupt leaders, cover their incompetence and conceal the humongous sleazes in their administration. This is the reason the APC and the cabal at the incompetent Buhari presidency resorted to violence, intimidation as well as manipulations and alteration of results at the Independent National Electoral Commission to rig the February 23 presidential election.

“This also explains why the APC’s agents and certain presidential aides have been making desperate efforts to distract the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal and derail the course of justice by making and promoting baseless judicial interpretations and externalising the proceedings of the court. The PDP urges Nigerians not to despair but continue to be steadfast in the aspiration for the recovery of the stolen presidential mandate at the tribunal, as this is the only way to return our nation to the path of peace, national unity and a vibrant economy.”