The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that leaders of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) have looted about N15 trillion from the national treasury in its five and half years in power, promising to provide the evidence of the allegation when necessary.
The party has called on the Muhammadu Buhari led administration to take steps to recover the money rather than allow the APC leaders to engage in diversionary tactics to deflect attention from the issue.
This as contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the main opposition party.
While noting that the APC national leadership was churning out lies and false performance claims, which it maintained, will not save them from accounting for their atrocities in office, the PDP said such antics will not save the APC and those it called its indicted leaders from answering for atrocities “which include the stealing of over N15 trillion public funds, manipulating the Buhari administration and importing terrorists and bandits for 2019 general elections who are now on rampage, killing innocent Nigerians, particularly in the northern parts of our nation.”
The statement reads: “We know that APC’s attack is a desperate diversionary tactics as more revelations continue to emerge on how its leaders and some presidency officials pillaged our national treasury and stole over N15 trillion naira as well as how the APC has been patronizing bandits with our national resources.
“This is especially giving the decision by our party to expose such APC leaders, in addition to the rising public demand on President Muhammadu Buhari to recover the money and prosecute the culprits.
“Our party also notes the plots by current APC leadership to blackmail and ridicule President Buhari by pushing out fake performance claims, like those contained in the press statement by its illegal caretaker committee on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, which was designed to rubbish Mr. President, highlight his failures and deflect attention from the atrocities of the APC.
“Such fake narratives will not help the APC as our party has details of their nefarious leaders, including APC governors, ministers, certain aides of Mr. President, as well as APC fronts in agencies of government, and would not hesitate to make such public at the fullness of time.
“The APC had become rattled because of pressure from the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians asking President Buhari to go after APC leaders as well as Presidency officials involved in the reported stealing of N9.6 trillion ($25 billion) oil revenue as detailed in the leaked NNPC memo.
“APC leaders are having sleepless nights because the dragnet would soon catch up with all of them involved in the reported stealing of N1.1 trillion worth of crude using 18 unregistered vessels; the looting of over N2 trillion in hazy oil subsidy regime, including a criminal under-recovery for unnamed West African countries as well as illegal tax per liter of petrol running into trillions of naira.
“APC leaders are also jittery because they would soon explain how they siphoned N500bn Social Investment Programme and the N16bn meant for Mosquito Net Project, as exposed by First Lady Aisha Buhari in addition to the N90 billion stolen from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), in a racket in which certain top APC leaders were alleged to have received N3 billion each.
“Very top officials in the Buhari Presidency have gone under over their alleged involvement in the looting of N33 billion NEMA fund as exposed in the findings by the House of Representatives that the funds were never used for provision of emergency food for victims of insurgency in the Northeast among other items as claimed.
“Some known APC leaders are now running amok over their involvement in the siphoning of the N48 billion meant for the rebuilding of six northeast states ravaged by insurgency as well as the looting of N25 billion from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), among others.
“This is in addition to those fingered in the relooting of repatriated funds, the alleged extortion of N1.2 billion from poor beneficiaries of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, the fraud allegation in the EFCC leading to the suspension of its acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, as well as the looting of billions of naira Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
“Having stripped our national coffers, the APC is now using its illegal caretaker committee to attempt to set the narrative of empty treasury to validate their further looting of funds meant for the 2021 budget.
“By now, the APC ought to know that such narratives cannot fly when Nigerians are already aware that its leaders stashed away over N15 trillion stolen from our national coffers.”
The PDP admonished the acting national secretary of the APC, Senator James Akpanudoedehe, “to find something more meaningful to do with his time as Nigerians are no longer swayed by APC’s lies and propaganda.”
It added: “Under the PDP, people like Senator Akpanudoedehe progressed under the robust economy and a secured nation where the system worked.
“If Akpanudoedehe meant well, he should be apologising for the failures of his party and the devastation it has brought to our country.
“He should be apologising to victims of the bandits imported by his party. He should have been apologising for the looting by his party leaders as well as President Buhari’s failures, which have brought economic hardship and untold devastation to our nation.”
