Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has said information from the recent
trip of President Muhammadu Buhari revealed that a former Minister under
President Goodluck Jonathan, stole $6Billion from state coffers.
Oshiomhole who was on the delegation of the President to the White House
said members of the delegations were told by a U.S official how the
Jonathan’s Minister stole $6Billion.
He reused to name the U.S official or the Jonathan’s Minister while
speaking to State House Correspondents in Abuja.
He said, “The PDP destroyed the country. I mean from the lips of American
officials; senior officials of the State Department said one minister
under PDP cornered as much as $6billion.
“The man said even by Washington standard, that is earth-quaking.
“So, PDP is a party that presided over the liquidation of our nation,
destroyed all our institutions, converted the Armed Forces commanders to
use them as if they were political thugs, converted NTA to a party
megaphone, destroyed the SSS, went after opposition as if we were rabbits
to be pursued into our holes, compromised even student unions and
destroyed everything that you can think of and elevated religion to a
state affair.
“Under the party, Israel became a place you visit every week; they placed
pastors against mallams, placed North against South, East against West
just to retain power; elevate Obas and Obis with dollars.
“You guys were reporting dollars that were changing hands; when NNPC was
spending much more money than is available to the Federation Account.
“We are a very patient people. If we were not a patient people, anybody
wearing the tag of PDP ought to feel very unsafe because you are all
victims – all of us here.”
Oshiomhole claimed that under the PDP, there was no law as the party
members were law to themselves.
He claimed that Jonathan did not know what the issues were and everybody
was frustrated.
He added, “Mr. Carson, who was the Assistant Secretary of State, when we
visited him in company of Senator Saraki, then as chairman of the
Governors’ Forum – that was at the eve of President Obama’s first visit to
Africa – and we went to complain, ‘why is Nigeria not on the list?’
“What he said for me was quite instructive compared to what he said last
week. Then I was present when he said ‘you know, we who see ourselves not
just as friends of Nigeria, each time we think there is light at the end
of the tunnel and it is time to encourage Nigeria to build on it, you
would wake up the following day under President Jonathan to find out that
even the tunnel had been removed.
“Those were the words of Mr. Carson. Now last week, this same Carson
chaired the President’s address at the Institute of Peace and he said ‘we
now have a man of enormous integrity; one that has shown so much faith in
the democratic process; one that refused to be frustrated even in the face
of massively rigged elections. He submitted to the judicial process and
even when that was compromised he never gave up.
“‘America has done its check and we are convinced that this President is
the one that Nigeria needs at this time to regain its leadership of the
African continent.
“‘America now has a partner worthy of relations because they believe that
every dollar that America provides to support Nigeria whether in the area
of security, in the area of education, or encouraging American investors
to invest in Nigeria, there is an enabling environment because what had
been destroying the country is corruption.
Oshiomhole added that “If PDP doesn’t condemn it then they are no longer
PDP. Don’t forget, people deceiving people has been a way of life for 16
years.”