The All Progressives Congress (APC) has expressed strong support for
President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to probe the immediate past federal
government, saying the revelations of mind-boggling corruption that are
just beginning to emerge have made such a probe imperative.
”Some people have insinuated that the Buhari Administration should ignore
the massive looting of our patrimony and move on. We say no responsible
government can afford to do that, because it will amount to endorsing
corruption and impunity,” the party said in a statement issued in Abuja on
Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
It said in the oil sector alone, billions of dollars have been skimmed off
by pathologically-corrupt public officials, wondering how the government
of the day can meet its obligations to the citizens if it refuses to
recover the huge funds taken away by thieving officials
”It is an irony that those who are suggesting that the Buhari
Administration should turn a blind eye to the incomprehensible looting are
the same ones accusing the government of not doing anything. It is even a
cruel irony that the same party that presided over what is fast emerging
as the worst governance in the history of our country is the same one that
is daily bad-mouthing an Administration that is cleaning up its mess,” APC
said.
The party said even if all the acts of corruption that were perpetrated
during the tenure of the last Administration are limited to what is now in
the public domain, it is still absolutely exigent for the Buhari
Administration to do all it can to bring the perpetrators to book and
recover the looted funds.
”Where does one start from? Is it the fact that the NNPC failed to remit
3.8 trillion Naira to the Federation Account or the mind-blowing stealing
of 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day? Is it the fact that the NNPC
itself does not know how many bank accounts it had or into which ones the
payments for Nigerian crude are made? Could anyone have imagined that a
government minister would steal the unprecedentedly-huge amount of 6
billion US dollars of public funds as being alleged?
”How does any sane person rationalize the fact that 1 billion dollars was
unilaterally and illegally withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account just
because, as the immediate past Minister of Finance has disclosed, the
President ordered the withdrawal? What about the billions of Naira waivers
recklessly approved to dubious importers by the Jonathan administration?
”Is it not clear now that the stealing and the profligacy – more than
anything else, including the fall in oil price – helped to drastically
reduce the monthly allocation from the Federation Account from about 800
billion Naira to about 400 billion Naira, thus pauperizing the states and
the local governments, and by extension the citizenry?
”Against the background of the stunning revelations, what message will any
government be sending to its citizens and indeed the global community by
looking the other way, when it could still recover some of the looted
funds for the benefit of the people? This is why we are supporting the
Buhari Administration’s probe decision, and calling on all Nigerians to
support ongoing efforts to get to the root of the matter,” it said.
APC said it is now clear that the Jonathan Administration cleverly delayed
giving the then incoming Buhari government the handover note so as to
avoid being asked critical questions pertaining to the unprecedented
looting under its watch.