Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said that President Muhammadu Buhari should leave the 8th National Assembly out of his failures to tame his fraudulent officials and curb the humongous corruption festering in his Presidency.
The party said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, that the Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, at his age and status, ought to be bold enough to tell President Buhari that corruption resides in the Presidential Villa and that a President who surrounds himself with corrupt persons as ministers, special advisers and confidants cannot fight corruption.
The PDP tasked Prof. Sagay to clear his conscience by using his position to ask President Buhari to answer Nigerians on the alleged siphoning of N9 trillion oil money through shady contracts, under his watch, as detailed in the leaked NNPC memo.
The party further advised that Prof. Sagay could take a face-saving measure by demanding an investigation into the alleged corruption in the handling of the N1.4 trillion oil subsidy involving the cabal in the Presidency and certain All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders, in addition to the reported stealing of over N1.1 trillion worth of crude under Mr. President’s watch.
According to PDP, “It is strange to many Nigerians that Prof. Sagay, as the Chairman of the Anti-corruption Committee, could not summon the boldness to ask President Buhari to order an investigation into allegations by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, that the N500bn meant for Social Investment Program was diverted to private purses.
“Furthermore, Prof. Sagay and President Buhari had been mute over the recent arrest of President Buhari’s confidant, Nasir Banu in the United Kingdom for alleged passport scam and money laundering, while allegedly ferrying stolen money to persons said to be close to the Buhari Presidency.
“Also, Prof. Sagay is yet to speak out on the recent arrest of a scammer, Abdulrauf Illyasu, who operates from within the Presidential Villa, and never said anything about the arrest of former aide to the First Lady as well as one Amina Mohammed, who openly confessed fronting for persons close to the President for serial fraud, contract scams and looting of public resources.
“These and many more are corruption issues, which fall directly on the shoulders of the Buhari Presidency for which Nigerians expected Prof. Sagay and his committee to address,” PDP said.
PDP further stated that Sagay should therefore leave the former President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki and then House of Representatives Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara, alone and accept the fact that the Buhari Presidency could not fight corruption because it swims in ocean of corruption.
Accordingly, PDP said, “If anything, Nigerians are still aware of how the 8th National Assembly exposed corruption in the Buhari administration including issues of budget padding, alleged diversion of funds meant for the Internally Displaced Persons and stealing in revenue generating agencies.”
