Monday 14 December 2015

PDP condemns 'media trial'; ...wants Buhari probed over 1984 security votes, PTF and others

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the presidency yesterday re-engaged in a war of words over corruption, with the opposition party daring the administration to institute a truth commission to probe utilisation of security votes back to 1984.

In an apparent reaction to the fresh spew of allegations against officials of the immediate past administration, the PDP faulted the administration for supposedly engaging in a media trial of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, daring the administration to come clean on how it obtained its own funds for the 2015 elections.

The PDP, while welcoming the investigations of its government in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, condemned what it described as a media trial and dared the administration to extend the investigations into the utilisation of security votes to 1984 when President Muhammadu Buhari was military head of state.
“We restate for emphasis that a media and public war against corruption is good, but it should not be limited to only those opposed to the President and the ruling party. In fact, until top officials of the former government open up on the exact source of the funding, it remains premature to be accusing our party members of corrupt practices.
“Nevertheless, if indeed the government’s investigation includes the expenditure of President Jonathan security votes from 2011, then it should be extended to a public inquisition on the following:
  • The security votes of past presidents and Heads of state from 1984.
  • Contract award by the Petroleum Trust Fund from 1995 to 1999.
  • The expenditure of military purchases and expenditure during the Bakassi wars, the fight against militancy in the Niger Delta, military interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, among others.
  • The source of funding of the PDP and APC’s 2015 presidential campaigns; the contributions from APC-controlled state governors for their presidential campaign and the beneficiaries thereof.
The highest elected political office holder in PDP, Ekweremadu, had at a PDP Southeast zonal caucus meeting in Enugu last Saturday expressed concern on what he described as the administration’s inability to manage the economy warning at the prospect of a revolution breaking out.
Accusing the PDP officials of living in denial, Mohammed said: “Senator Ekweremadu complained about the depreciation of the Naira without telling Nigerians who ‘dollarized’ the Nigerian economy by bribing many individuals and groups with dollars during the last elections, thus inflicting a knock-out punch on the local currency. He also failed to tell Nigerians which government presided over the frenzied mop-up of dollars, either for ‘armsgate’ or for slush fund purposes, from the CBN to a point where it almost ran out of the hard currency,’’ he said

No comments:

Post a Comment