The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has challenged President Muhammadu
Buhari to speak out on the allegation of illegal award of oil contracts
worth $25 billion (N9 trillion) under his watch.
In a statement signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP’s Spokesman, the party
laments that the alleged complicity of the Buhari Presidency
coupled with Mr. President’s failure to address the reported fraudulent
contracts awarded through the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) has earned the nation a huge embarrassment of being labeled a
‘kleptocracy’ in the international arena.
Nigerians wonder how President Buhari and his handlers felt when they
read the new book by a former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, John
Campbell and former US Intelligence Community Expert on Nigeria, Matthew
Page, where our dear nation was described as ‘a kleptocracy’, because of
the humongous corruption, festering unchecked, in the Buhari
administration.
The new book has further vindicated the stance of the PDP that
corruption has skyrocketed under President Buhari, as also emphasized in
reports by other international bodies, including the United States
Department of State, the Amnesty International (AI) and Transparency
International (TI), which recently declared that corruption has
escalated in Nigeria under President Buhari, despite his nebulous
anti-corruption claims.
The book also aligns with our party’s position that President Buhari’s
incompetence, utterances and failure to live up to expectation as the
father and chief security officer of the nation are directly responsible
for the escalated acrimony, bloodletting and killings in various parts
of our country in the last three years.
Indeed, as captured by the book, the impunity and constitutional
violations by Buhari administration has done a lot of harm against our
nation, while his failure to address the endemic corruption in his
administration, particularly in the Petroleum sector, where he presides
as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, is hurting the image of our
nation.
President Buhari has failed to address the alleged stealing of N1.1
trillion worth of crude oil as well as the sleazy oil subsidy deals by
interests close to his administration.
President Buhari has failed to address the alleged diversion of N18
billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) fund. He has also refused to
address the alleged stealing of N10 billion National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by APC officials
and Presidency cabal, among other sharp practices in his government.
The PDP therefore urges Nigerians and the international community to
impress it on President Buhari to save our nation from further
embarrassment by ending the official concealment of corruption in his
presidency and open his administration for an independent inquest on
corruption.