The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Presidency, on Thursday, engaged in war-of-words, following the allegation by the PDP which claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari will divert the $1billion released for military equipment procurement to prosecute the 2019 elections by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party, therefore, called on Nigerians to reject and resist the attempt by the Presidency to divert $1billion from the national coffers while it also urged the National Assembly to commence appropriate constitutional legislative actions against President Buhari for gross misconduct in unilaterally approving the release of the fund without allowing for the application of legislative instrument.
But the Presidency has faulted the claim of the PDP, saying that the allegations were baseless and unfounded. It added that the federal government would never divert funds specifically attached to a particular programme.
The PDP had in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Thursday, said its investigation revealed that the Presidency will sidetracked the National Assembly so as to avoid legislative scrutiny and accountability and pave way for the diverting of the fund for selfish partisan purposes.
The party said: “It is a notorious fact that the Presidency and the APC have been plotting to loot this $I billion from our heavily depleted Excess Crude Account (ECA) since last year, using the guise of fight against insurgency. “This is the same Buhari administration that has been boasting of having technically defeated the insurgents.
This is also an administration that is not known to have exhausted subsisting budgetary allocations for Defence. ” Nigerians are thoroughly disappointed that President Buhari; the same African Union (AU) ‘anti-corruption champion’, who swore to be above board and to protect the constitution and our laws, will allow himself to fall for the temptation of resorting to ways and means which are totally at variance with the laws and all democratic tenets”.
Stressing that democracy thrives on constitutional processes of separation of powers, due diligence and transparency and not on totalitarian tendencies, the PDP believes the President, as a leader, reasonably ought to have known that he is in no way above the law.
The PDP said, “We therefore urge the National Assembly to look into the constitution and impose appropriate legislative instruments against Mr. President, if any part of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) has been breached by this unilateral decision.
“We further urge the National Assembly to scrutinise the constitution and other statute books for the purposes of strengthening the laws guiding the application of funds in our country, particularly under this inherently corrupt and incompetent administration”.
The PDP further alleged that the Buhari administration is using the fight against insurgency as a conduit to siphon funds, as evinced in the alleged looting of the N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)’s funds, and therefore demanded an independent investigation into the processes of release and utilisation of all special funds for war against insurgency in the last three years.
“The APC is in shreds and has lost the enormous goodwill that brought it to power in 2015 after failing in all its promises to Nigerians, ” the PDP added. But the Presidency has faulted the claims of the PDP on the approval of $1billion for the purchase of military equipment, saying that the allegations are not only senseless but devoid of any logical reasoning.
Responding to the allegations Thursday night, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, told The Daily Times that there is no iota of truth in the allegations. He insisted that the money would be strictly used for the purpose it was approved for, saying that President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government is running a credible and responsible administration.
Shehu added that unlike the previous PDP government, the APC government will not engage in diversion of military funds for 2019 polls. He said: “Do they think this government is the same as the one they ran? This is a different type of government. No stealing here.”
Communication with NASS under way – Adesina Meanwhile, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, has disclosed that the relevant letter from President Buhari over the purchase of the military equipment is on its way to the National Assembly.
Adesina stated this on Thursday night during his appearance before the Channels Television News at 10pm. He added that the President has followed the proper procedure on the matter, saying that once the National Economic Council has okayed the purchase, the President would approve the release of the funds while the relevant letter would be forwarded to the National Assembly for the necessary action of the lawmakers.
Adesina further shed new light on the propriety of the purchase of the $1billion military equipment. He said, ” Contrary to the wrong information being peddled by some people, the fund is not meant solely for Boko Haram, but to address insecurity nationwide. The money is meant to equip the military to tackle insecurity in fulfillment of its mandate.” When asked over the timing of the purchase in view of the forthcoming general elections in 2019, Adesina replied that it was immaterial to raise issue of time on security matters. He added that some people would go to any length to introduce politics to national issues.
