VON DG, Osita Okechukwu, faults Ex-President Jonathan on Corruption War

THE Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) Osita Okechukwu, has berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Special Non-elective Convention held at Abuja on Saturday just as he faulted the statement credited to Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan at the event that though his regime did not completely plug the loopholes in the fight against corruption, but they did well.

Speaking to newsmen on Sunday, Osita said, “My own sincere assessment is that our dear ex-president, His Excellency Dr Goodluck Jonathan rather than plugged loopholes of corruption; opened it wide. He should apologize to Nigerians whom he betrayed for being less than transparent. I was outraged when I heard him proclaim that PDP will return to power in 2019 because of the hunger and poverty ravaging the country”.

The VON Boss asked “whether it is not true as the ex-president said that hunger and poverty are ravaging the country?  Okechukwu quipped, “wait a minute, Nigerian economy could had collapsed if President Buhari didn’t come to the rescue. Jonathan relied on Voodoo economic records which rated the Nigerian economy higher than that of industrialised South African economy.

“An economy with 40,000 MW to Nigeria’s less than 4,000MW. This is a hard fact, otherwise let’s refer to our financial records to see how the ex-president and by extension his party railroaded Nigerians into abject poverty, food insecurity and deficit infrastructure via planlessness and squandermania:-

According to Okechukwu, “Oil Earnings of Jonathan era  ranged from 2010 – $70.7 billion, 2011 – $100.1 billion, 2012 – $96.9 billion, 2013 – $86.9 billion, 2014 – $77.9 billion, 2015 – $21 billion (Jan-May), compared to Buhari era – 2015 (June-Dec) – $16 billion, 2016 – $26 billion, 2017 (Jan-July) – $16 billion. Source – OPEC Revenue Data Sheet”

“Gentlemen of the Press, Jonathan and his cohorts assume that many of us will easily forget how on 13 May, 2010, his regime announced publicly with joy the award of $23 billion contract for the erection of three Greenfield refineries, one to be erected in Bayelsa, one in Kogi and one in Lagos. Today, neither did we see the refineries nor the billions of dollars at a time Nigeria Excess Accounts hovered around $17 billion. The refineries could have saved Nigeria over $200 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products till date.”

“Jonathan should just keep quiet especially now that the hunger and poverty he imposed on us are getting too harsh. I regret demonstrating on Abuja streets in 2010, for him to be made an executive president, with others as a member of the defunct Save Nigeria Group.”

“Nor can one forget his melodious inaugural speech, 29 May, 2011, where he said, “The lessons we have learnt is that the resolution of the Niger Delta issue is crucial for the health of the nation.” Is the health of the nation not bleeding because of his planlessness and squandermania? With huge oil revenue cited above he stood a good chance of fixing the Niger Delta, but failed woefully.”

“He propelled his preferred Minister, Mrs Deziani Alison Madueke and other cronies to loot dry our dear countrymen. Example, later day revelations are showing how $80 million was used by Mrs Madueke’ ally to purchase a luxury yacht, money which could have been utilized to build the best hospital in Yenogoa. Or is he not reminding us of the humongous foreign exchange used in buying choice estates locally and abroad?

Okechukwu said, “in sum the biggest headache of Buhari administration is the huge local and foreign debt amassed by the PDP’s 16 years misrule. On bail out fund and Paris Fund refund, Buhari has spent over N1 trillion on salary and pension arrears. He has also paid over $7 billion on obligations to International Oil Companies (IOC) with the little he got.