The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday described the claimed approval for the release of $1bn to the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government under the guise of fighting Boko Haram terrorists in the northeast as curious and alarming.
The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the party was alarmed by what it described as the manipulative plot by the APC administration to secure approvals without recourse to due process, and for purposes of fighting the same insurgents it claimed it had since defeated.
The PDP also wondered why the APC-led Federal Government had to recourse to the National Economic Council (NEC) while “avoiding the direct constitutional appropriation channel of the National Assembly for funding of items already provided for in the federal budget if it actually has nothing to hide.”
According to the statement, “The PDP supports the fight against insurgency. We hold our officers and men confronting the terrorists and securing our territorial integrity in high esteem, but we are concerned about the manipulative tendencies connected with the approvals as well as the veracity of claimed purpose of the fund.
“Nigerians would recall that the APC-led Federal Government had claimed that it has since defeated the insurgents.
“If it would take a billion dollar from a nation’s savings to kill what they long claimed dead, then we challenge APC government to come clean and tell Nigerians the whole truth.
“The era of lies and propaganda is long gone and Nigerians now know the truth. The Federal Government must be held accountable and stopped from any move to fritter away our national savings.
“We therefore call on the National Assembly to interrogate this proposed disbursement and subject it to a thorough but rapid interrogation”, the statement said.
The party also noted that the development has rubbished the integrity of the current administration and demanded that it apologize to Nigerians for lying to them about the actual state of the fight against insurgency in Nigeria.
“By accepting the $1bn for fighting insurgency, the APC-led Federal Government has admitted that it lied when it announced that it has defeated the insurgents. They should therefore apologize to Nigerians for giving them a false sense of security, resulting in their vulnerability to attacks by terrorists.”
“The PDP recalled that the three points upon which APC hinged their promise were security, corruption and economy and it is apparent that they have failed in all.
“On the economy, they have taken us into recession; on security, Boko Haram is still ravaging our people; on the corruption, the APC Government has only embarked on witch hunt of the opposition while enmeshed in monumental corruption thriving unabated right inside the engine of its administration.”
“The PDP vowed to ensure the APC does not continue to play with the intelligence of Nigerians, who are now only waiting for 2019 to consign them into the dustbin of history.”
