Corruption places Nigeria on ventilator ― PDP

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus has said that the level corruption perpetuated by the ruling All Progressives Congress has choked the nation and placed Nigeria on an economic ventilator.

Secondus called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute those indicted in the sleazes that took place in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and North East Development Commission (NEDC).

He also said the President should resign for failing to steer the ship of state in accordance with the aspiration of the Nigerian population following the mounting revelations that trails his administration over corruption worst of it, the chairman of the Antigraft agency.

Secondus who said this at a press briefing in Abuja identified insecurity alongside reasons for the President’s resignation.

Secondus said on insecurity, “nothing establishes the fact that there is no governance in the country more than the worsening state of insecurity.

“Having exhausted their propaganda of winning the war on terrorism only in their press releases, as reality endowed on all, both the military and political leaders are now helpless and confused.

“What the Nigerian Senate did on Tuesday when it asked the service chiefs to resign was to show to the world that there is no executive arm of government in place.

“Having a few months back advised the executive to sack the service chiefs for having outlived their relevance and re-engineer the military for the emerging challenges, and having watched the security situation in the country grow from worse to worse, the legislators have limited option but to do what they did at least to show the people they represent that they are sensitive to their plights.

Not even during the three-year brutal civil war did we witness as much as over 300 soldiers absconding their duties and pouring abuses on their commander.

“Only poor leadership from the military and the polity can drag down morale of soldiers to such portable level. The Presidency rising immediately to challenge the Senate shows also the level of confusion in the system.

The chairman also listed the corruption allegation and said “transparency International said a few years ago that the worst corruption was going-on in Nigeria under this regime, the situation has continued to worsen.

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“It has now become a bazaar with no pretence about it with all critical agencies of government including the anti-graft body themselves grossly engulfed in it.

“The nation’s economy is walking to depression because we are least in recession and it’s being fast-tracked by the widening scope of corruption involving operatives at the high places.

“The free for all corruption going on all over the place leaves us with the impression that the country is dying and there has been a scramble for what one can get out of it before the final demise.

“It’s very disheartening that as the looting and the re-looting of the nation’s resources are going on under the watch of the acclaimed anti-corruption President, no serious reactions are coming from the government that prides itself to be fighting corruption.

“Rather than confront the already exposed corruption cases, the government deliberately takes cautious steps to play it down with a view to protecting their members who are neck-deep in the growing sleaze.

“After providence decided to expose the massive fraud going on in the nation’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the last five years, rather than bring it to the fore, the Presidency in the great cover-up decided to take the investigation including the interrogation of suspects to Aso Rock Villa behind the camera where all the exposed issues are kept away from the public glare.

“We are aware that after the massive fraud exposition involving critical members of the administration, subtle moves are on behind the scene to free culprits and save the face of the government at the expense of the nation.

“This has been the case since this administration came in 2015 disguising as an anti-corruption regime while in reality looting the country dry.

“After their double speak on fuel subsidy and prizing, they have recorded the highest amount of subsidy in the petroleum sector while running the show in utmost secrecy with the President presiding as both the President and the Petroleum Minister.

“As we speak, the big corruption cover-up is on-going in critical sectors, the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, the Maritime Sector, the Customs, the Federal inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Nigeria Social Insurance a Trust Fund, NSITF, North East Development Commission, NNPC crude Oil sale to China etc.

“Nothing brings out the exact character of President Buhari’s administration to corruption than the on-going free for all fraud at the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, where the so-called forensic auditors sent in by the President to unearth a fraud are themselves becoming a visible accomplice to the crime.

“The Senate has already indicted the Interim Management Committee, IMC, and the supervising Minister Senator Godswill Akpabio. A commission set up to help the suffering people of Niger Delta has become a bank for APC
members.”

Secondus listed the alleged 100mb crude oil sales to China by Sahara energy as reported over 2.5b dollars and over N1.3 trillion spent between 2015 and 2019 with N4.923b of NDDC spent outside the budget NSITF N3.4b fraud.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE