Corruption war: We won't fail Nigerians like you did, APC tells PDP

Instead of apologizing profusely for their gang-rape of the nation, the PDP seeks to present itself before Nigerians in 2019 to seek a return to their stealing, the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Yekini Nabena has said.

Nabena, in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday in reaction to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) allegations on the President Buhari administration’s anti-corruption war, said the former ruling party’s corruption stench suffocated Nigerians.

While describing the allegations as empty, baseless and diversionary, the APC said the PDP should understand that Nigerians could not forget how the country was destroyed by its ‘gang of pen robbers’.

“The PDP may wish to explain to Nigerians under which administration a State Governor who was set free in many courts in Nigeria on charges of corruption and money laundering but was tried and jailed in the United Kingdom.

“Is it not ironic that the PDP preaches about corruption in the oil sector when it in fact oversaw record pillage, maladministration and disrepair of the oil sector when it held sway. The PDP should remind Nigerians the circumstances under which the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), now Emir of Kano, lost his job in the bank. How many millions of dollars did he say was not remitted to the nation’s coffers on regular basis? The PDP may also explain the fuel subsidy scandals and how billions of the country’s funds went into private pockets; the massive seizures of properties and cash from public officers who served in the PDP government.

“In 2015, Nigerians voted massively for the establishment of a truly progressive government to check the shocking level of impunity, corruption, disregard for the rule of law and other deplorable undemocratic practices which previously defined our national life,” the statement read.

The APC, which assured all Nigerians that the President held their ‘collective trust’ sacred, said the war against graft was being won despite efforts to discredit on-going anti-corruption efforts.

The statement also read, “An often overlooked major achievement of the anti-corruption war is that President Buhari has brought the issue of corruption to the heart of national consciousness. The fact that Nigerians are talking about it means we have not accepted it as a way of life and as long as ordinary people continue to show that disdain for corruption, we would win the war sooner or later.

“Under President Buhari, the country has never had it so good. Yearly remittances by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) have been in billions of Naira, over and above what PDP governments remitted in 16 years; increasing yearly revenue from the Customs Service; within three years and despite low oil prices, execution of massive road and rail infrastructure our foreign reserves has grown to over $47 billion- about $4billion more than that of South Africa.

“Under the administration of President Buhari, no minister will purchase bullet proof cars with public funds, nor will an oil minister junket the globe with family members in private jets at the public expense.

“Nigerians were taken for granted too long and have vowed enough is now enough. No degree of blackmail and wicked scheming will make us return to the years the locusts had eaten. We have crossed the Red Sea and have no intention to return to our ugly past.

“While the PDP and their agents attempt to discredit the ongoing fight against corruption, the question the PDP should answer is: are anti-corruption efforts being carried out within the ambit of the law?”

The party urged the President, law enforcement agencies, anti-graft bodies and Nigerians not to be side-tracked by what it called the desperate and roguish attempt by the PDP and their agents to discredit the on-going fight against corruption.

The party assured Nigerians that it would not fail the country like what it referred to as ‘PDP’s wasted 16 years’.

“While the PDP continue to spew lies in its cheap attempt at opposition politics, President Buhari is concentrating on the important work at hand – clearing the mess and rebuilding the country in all facets,” Nabena added.