PDP, APC trade blames over Nigeria’s state of affairs
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are trading blames over the state of affairs in the country, especially the fight against corruption and recovery of looted funds.
The PDP alleged that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has ignored some reports of sleazes going on in the country.
On the other hand, the APC urged Nigerians to be patient with the new government, saying that it was doing its best to cleanse the rot entrenched by the PDP.
A statement issued, yesterday, by Olisa Metuh, the PDP national publicity secretary, alleged that while Buhari was expected to bring all corrupt persons to justice, some corrupt people in the APC were still dining with the government in power.
The statement said: “The PDP has severally expressed its support for a holistic fight against corruption and we have challenged the federal government to investigate and prosecute all corrupt persons irrespective of ethnic and political affiliations. We are therefore appalled that instead of getting serious with the challenges of governance, the APC is bent on inventing excuses for its crass incompetence to create and manage wealth, to the detriment of the nation.
“Are we not already experiencing the consequences of abuse of rules such as the foisting of foreign exchange transaction restrictions in violation of the Foreign Exchange Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, otherwise known as Decree No. 17 of 1995?
“What is the APC-led government’s answer to the report by Fitch Rating, which alerted that Nigerian banks and other businesses in the sector are now at risk following the economic slowdown occasioned by the incompetence of the President Buhari-led APC government?
“In the same vein, we restate our caution against the current drama of politicizing the issue of corruption in the country, while turning blind eyes to reports of sleazes going on unchecked in government quarters under the current administration.”
However, the APC, in a statement issued by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, its national publicity secretary, listed new instances of alleged looting of the treasury by some officials of former president Jonathan’s administration, saying: ‘’Those who would rather give comfort to the looters by dismissing the media exposure of looting cases as mere hell-raising should realise that no sane person can be silent in the face of what is unfolding as the worst cases of brazen stealing of public funds in Nigeria’s history.
“Today (yesterday), we bring three more heartrending cases to the attention of Nigerians. There was a mind-shattering 2.2 billion-US-dollar arms scandal, a 6.9 million-dollar fraud by the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Jonathan, committed under the guise of buying three mobile stages for the President and another 2.5 billionNaira scam involving the rent of house boats.
“While those charged with handling these cases are finalizing the details of bringing the suspects to justice, our immediate concern is the attempt by the PDP, under whose umbrella the looting took place, to blame the Buhari Administration for the mess and then infer that things have been worse in Nigeria in the past 3 months under the APC-led federal government than in the 16 years under the PDP. This is totally provocative, shameless and uncharitable.”