Nigeria’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to explain how the sum of N1.1 trillion crude oil revenues was stolen under his watch as a former minister of petroleum. The party said this in a statement issued on Saturday as a response to the “PDP looters list” released by the presidency on Friday.
In the statement signed by the party’s spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP also challenged the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) to tell Nigerians the source of its campaign funds for the 2015 general elections.
Ologbondiyan accused President Buhari of lacking the moral standing to fight corruption, adding that he is a beneficiary of the corruption freebies.
He said: “We challenge Buhari to make open the sources of fund available to his campaign in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 race as well as the names of the donors.
“We are particularly interested in the fund allegedly provided by a south-south governor for the 2011 presidential election as well as how the cost of litigation was paid by then Buhari campaign.
“President Buhari and his party leaders have huge confessions to make on how they raked in state stolen resources to prosecute elections of 2015. If the federal government and the APC are serious about fighting corruption and not just out to persecute PDP members, they should have begun with the probe into the source of the billions of naira used for President Buhari’s 2015 presidential campaigns, particularly in the face of allegations that the fund was looted from treasuries of various APC states.
“The PDP ask can president Buhari in all honesty claim ignorance of reports in the open media that a South-south governor looted several billions from his state accounts and diverted the sums into Buhari’s 2015 campaigns?
“Can the presidency and the APC inform Nigerians what steps the federal government has taken to investigate this allegation, which has been in public domain and to clarify their roles as beneficiaries of the alleged looted funds?”
The PDP spokesman said the president should tell Nigerians what he has done regarding the alleged stealing of N1.1 trillion worth of crude oil under his watch as minister of petroleum.
“The presidency should tell Nigerians what has been done to recover the stolen N18 billion internally displaced persons (IDPs) intervention fund and the N10 billion National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) fund alleged to have been stolen from the treasury single account (TSA) by APC officials and presidency cabal.
“The Buhari presidency must immediately explain why it has been providing cover for the cabinet minister reported to have bought a property worth N280 million in Abuja from corrupt enrichment.
“How can a President who enjoys the company of perjurer, looters and is never aware of the activities of corrupt people around him, fight the menace of corruption?,” the PDP queried.
