Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday accused the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of massively looting the commonwealth and patrimony of all Nigerians.
Although, the governor could not state if Jonathan was personally involved in the looting-spree, he however urged the former president to take responsibility for whatever happened under his watch.
Speaking in Washington DC, USA, Oshiomhole accused former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, of supervising the looting of the treasury.
Oshiomhole said, “The numbers are huge. For example, NNPC reports that they earned about N8trn within three to four years and over the same period, they claimed they spent N3.5trn and paid to the Federation Account about N4.1trn. “So, the cost of running NNPC was as much as the cost of running the federation: the Federal, State and local governments! So, that tells you the amount of primitive stealing that went on.”
Oshiomhole said his grouse with Okonjo-Iweala stems from the fact even as Coordinating Minister of the Economy, too much sleaze and malfeasance went under her watch without an alarm.
“Having accepted the role of the Coordinating Minister, so many things went wrong with the Nigerian economy even to the extent that for the first time in our history, even the Federal Government could not pay salary, they had to borrow.
“The pension scheme has been drawn down. The social purpose of the pension scheme has now been defeated.
“So, first of all, we are saying, accept responsibility that you failed to manage the economy properly. Two, you never gave in even when we argued that the economy was in distress.
“She was on record as always saying: no, the economy was fine; the economy was strong; we are the largest economy on the continent.
“Of course, people are not fooled by just revaluing your assets and playing with the numbers. What has changed in the quality of life of the people?
“If you claim to have the largest economy, you can’t also plead insolvency at the same time. What we are simply asking her to do is to open the whole book. What the council has asked us, the Committee of four governors to do, is to just look at this excess crude thing, and show what went in, who took what, when and who authorised it,” he added.
The governor, who insisted that he is not intimidated by the ethnic and religious sentiments of the former minister and her defenders, hinted that the Federal Government might still have to carry out a forensic auditing of NNPC, NIMASA and other agencies through competent auditors.
On the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the immediate past administration, Oshiomhole said: “I don’t think probe is the right word. For a President whose major campaign was hinged on ‘if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us’, it is only natural that he recovers what was stolen and I think it is only patriotic that we do that.
“If we still recover money from Abacha government even after his death, why should anybody ask questions if indeed he (Jonathan) should be probed?”
Meanwhile, All Progressives Congress, APC, has expressed strong support for the decision of President Buhari to probe the Jonathan-led administration, saying the revelations of mind-boggling corruption that are just beginning to emerge have made such a probe imperative.
APC in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, and issued in Abuja yesterday, said: “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.”
Mohammed 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
He added: “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 cleaning up its mess.”
Saying that 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, APC added that 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.
APC said it is now clear that the Jonathan administration cleverly delayed giving the then incoming Buhari government its handover notes so as to avoid being asked critical questions pertaining to the unprecedented looting under its watch.
In the same vein, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said it is on the same page with the Federal Government on the fight against corruption.
The party, however, stated that due process must be followed to ensure that it is not used as a guise to victimise innocent citizens and curtail the freedom of Nigerians.
PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh yesterday said the clarification has become necessary to remove any misconception that it is against the decision of the present administration to probe some past officials of government because they are its members.
“The PDP supports the decision of the Federal Government to fight corruption in our country. However, we make bold to state that it should not be used as a guise to victimise innocent citizens. “Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria and no citizen, irrespective of political, religious or ethnic affiliation should be denied access to due process and the rule of law in the process.
“In the same vein, we want to state categorically that the anti-corruption war, whilst targeted at the immediate past administration should not by any means be blind to the impunity of the present leaders of the country either in terms of borrowing and spending without recourse to the statutory arms and organs of government and dictates of transparency and accountability, or in terms of nepotism in appointments in key institutions such as INEC and the DSS,” the party said. – National Mirror.
Oshiomhole should be subjected to sanity test. He is just running his mouth against his leaders who served well when they held sway. Okonjo-Iweala is an embodiment if sincerity and truth.
Oshiomhole is such a dummy who doesn’t even know how to seat very well in White House. He placed his two hands on the table like a goat going to the church. It was a disgrace to Nigerian image. Too over happy to be in the same room with Obama.