Probe Buhari over diversion of repatriated funds, PDP tells NASS

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the National Assembly to immediately undertake a forensic probe of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to save the nation following fresh reports of clandestine plans to divert recovered looted funds repatriated by the United States.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday by Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary, the main opposition party said, “the recent revelation of huge corruption in the Buhari administration, has further exposed the fact that the administration has been living a lie; parading as saints with a false anti-corruption posturing, whereas it has been swimming in a huge ocean of corruption and massive treasury looting.”

The PDP said its call was predicated on the “stinking report” by the US Department of State that the President Buhari-led government planned to funnel the repatriated money to certain individuals connected to the Presidency, including a particular state governor allegedly involved in the initial looting of the money.

The PDP maintained that the report that the administration has been blocking attempts to recover part of the looted funds traced to Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, the Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors Forum, who was reportedly indicted by the US for allegedly helping in transferring billions of dollar out of the country during the military era, spoke volumes of the corruption and concealments going on in the present administration.

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The statement added: “Moreover, further revelations in the report that instead of recovering the stolen money, the Federal Government is even in the process of funnelling $100 million (N36.3 billion) out of the looted funds to Governor Bagudu, highlights the humongous sleaze, duplicity and treachery that pervade the Buhari administration.

“From the report, it is clear that the Buhari Presidency has further smeared itself, and no longer commands the trust and confidence of stakeholders within and outside the country in its fight against corruption.

“There is already apprehension in the public space of huge complicity and patronizing of corruption under President Buhari’s watch, which is directly responsible for our worsening corruption rating, a comatose economy, hardship and untold suffering which have turned our nation into world’s poverty capital.”

The PDP posited that the failure of the Buhari Presidency to give a direct response to the issues raised by the US Department of State only validated the widely held position within and outside the country that “the administration is not only irredeemably corrupt but also serves as a haven for corrupt individuals

The party, therefore, called on the National Assembly to immediately redeem the image of the nation by invoking its statutory instruments to order a forensic investigation into the handling of repatriated funds “given the huge corruption that has pervaded the Presidency.”