The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday urged President Muhammadu Buhari “to leave the 8th National Assembly out of his failures to tame his fraudulent officials and curb the humongous corruption festering in his Presidency”
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said that the Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, “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 party counselled 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.”
It 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 the statement, ” 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 N500 billion meant for Social Investment Program was diverted to private purses.
“Also, Prof. Sagay is yet to speak out on the arrest of a 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.
“Prof. Sagay should, therefore, leave the former President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki and the House of Representatives Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara, alone and accept the fact that the Buhari Presidency cannot fight corruption because it swims in an ocean of corruption
“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”.