The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday, challenged the Federal Government to account for the N8 billion it claimed to have recovered from corrupt persons in its fight against corruption.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the challenge became necessary following allegations that the recovered monies have allegedly been re-looted by government official.
Ologbondiyan, who spoke at a press briefing, in Abuja, accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration of allegedly distorting information relating to the fight against corruption, especially as it concerns alleged corrupt activities involving top members of the ruling party.
“We challenge the APC federal government to give account of the N800 billion, which Lai Mohammed claimed to have been recovered, especially given allegations that recovered monies have been re-looted and shared among topmost officials of the Buhari administration and APC leaders.
“Rather than resorting to false performance claims, the expectation of Nigerians is that this administration would have sent Lai Mohammed to apologise for this display of gross abuse of position especially as it relates to the fight against corruption.
“We further invite Nigerians to note that Lai Mohammed, in his press conference, admitted that he could not go into the details of the various corruption issues in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), EFCC and other agencies.
“Our party holds that this is an evasion of gory tales of direct stealing, treasury looting and barefaced embezzlements by government officials and APC leaders as already exposed in on-going investigations at the National Assembly and at the presidential panel,” he said.
He added that it was ridiculous that the government was seeking to take credit for the unearthing of alleged fraud in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when in essence the probe of the commission is a result of pressure by the opposition.
Ologbondiyan, while accusing the government of suppressing the prosecution of officials of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) allegedly indicted in N90 billion theft, challenged the government to explain to Nigerians why it has not addressed the allegation by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, that the N500 billion meant for Social Investment Program under this administration was diverted to private purses.
This is in addition to the suppression of prosecution of APC leaders involved in the reported looting of N33billion from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the stealing of over N18 billion from the rehabilitation of IDPs in the North East as well as the over N25 billion from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) among others, he said.
When contacted for comment, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the authorised persons to speak on the issues were the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Minister Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, both of whom have thoroughly addressed the issues raised by the opposition party.
