Abacha loot: PDP, APC trade words over $311m repatriated fund
2nd LEAD
.We’ve uncovered plots to loot the fund-PDP
.PDP frustrated for lacking assess to public funds, says APC
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), on Wednesday, exchanged words over the recently repatriated $311 million Abacha loot by the United States and Jersey.
While the PDP said it has uncovered fresh plots by the ‘cabal’ in the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use fake subheads and duplicated projects as ploy to re-loot the recently repatriated $311 million Abacha loot, the APC said the statement implies the frustration of the opposition party.
The allegation by the PDP was contained in a statement on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
The opposition party alleged that the in the cabal Presidency and the APC had perfected the use of fake subheads as nomenclatures to mislead those who repatriated the fund and pave way for the frittering of the money to private pockets as they had done with earlier repatriated funds.
The PDP revealed that part of the strategy of the cabal is to “hype hazy subheads and stampede the dissipation of the funds without the statutory approval of the National Assembly, which enables them to muddle up accountability processes, conceal their fraud and divert the attention of the unsuspecting public from the scam”.
The fraudulent dissipation of the funds, it further claimed “will then be followed with false performance claims as well as blackmailing and intimidation of Nigerians demanding for both transparency and accountability in the handling of the money”.
The party noted that such had become the standard ruse for the cabal and APC leaders, “who also looted the earlier repatriated $322 million” under the guise of sharing money to the poor in 19 states and had no answers to allegations that more than 90 percent of the 300,000 households listed as beneficiaries were phony family names.
“Nigerians would recall how the claims of the APC Government was rubbished by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, who had alerted the nation that the N500 billion Social Investment Programme of the Buhari administration was hugely shrouded in corruption and that bulk of the money did not get to the poor and vulnerable.
“Furthermore, the Federal Government had failed to publish the details of the alleged APC leaders who own the consulting firms that was allegedly paid billions of naira up front, as consultancy fee for the “sharing” of the money, which was not also passed through the constitutionally required approval of the National Assembly.
“The APC-led Federal Government had also failed to account for the $308 million repatriated in February, for which it cannot point to any project, but rather faced with allegations of unbridled looting by the cabal and certain APC leaders, including those exposed to be receiving huge percentages from repatriated funds.
“The PDP invites Nigerians to note that the APC government had remained silent on the report by the US Department of State that the Federal Government plots to funnel this repatriated money to certain individuals connected to the APC.
“The report had exposed that the Federal Government was even in the process of funneling $100 million of the funds to Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, the Chairman of 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.
“It is also strange that the Federal Government is keeping an ominous silence on how much, in line with its style, would be farmed out to vested interests as legal fees on the repatriated funds”, the statement read in part.
The PDP counseled that this repatriated $311 million should be safeguarded from the antics of the APC cabal.
The party demanded that the fund should be surrendered to the National Assembly for proper statutory appropriation and urged Nigerians to resist schemes by the cabal to prevent them from demanding explanations on the looting of repatriated funds.
In a swift reaction to allegations by the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) that it uncovered plots by a cabal in the Presidency to reloot the recovered $311 million repatriated Abacha loot, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the statement implies the frustration of the opposition party.
A statement by APC national publicity secretary, Lanre Issa – Onilu, indicated that the PDP was saddened by a missed opportunity to share the money as it used to do in the past.
The APC said it is unfortunate that the PDP is unable to rid corruption from its DNA and until the party has the courage to burn its corruption handbook to ashes, it would be difficult for it not to hallucinate over public funds.
The statement said: “Of course, we understand PDP’s frustrations. Its unsuccessful and serial attempts to tar the APC government with the corruption toga in order to blur its own image as a party that personifies corruption in words and deeds has turned the party into a laughing stock.
“For the umpteenth time, we remind the PDP that the government that the APC runs is not about sharing public funds amongst the ruling class, but about using tax payers’ money to impact positively on the lives of the people.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Federal Government on Monday confirmed the receipt of some $311 million, stolen from Nigeria during the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha and repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey.
“The recovery consolidates on President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to recover our stolen commonwealth and other proceeds of corruption – locally and internationally.
“Recall that this administration similarly recovered $322 million from Switzerland in 2018, as part of monies stolen by Abacha which has been transparently and judiciously deployed in the funding of social investment programmes, including the free school feeding scheme, stipends for millions of disadvantaged citizens, and grain grants for those in severe food hardship as specified in the agreement signed with the Switzerland and the World Bank”.
According to the ruling party, Nigerians living on the margins and affected by the economic effect of COVID-19 have also benefitted from government palliatives partly funded by the recovered stolen funds.
On the recovery of $311 million, it referred the PDP to the 2020 Asset Return Agreement which requires the fund to be transferred to a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Asset Recovery designated account and which would then be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) designated as the project management and execution authority within the next fourteen days.
“The Federal Government has committed itself that the assets will be invested in expediting the construction of major infrastructure projects across Nigeria, and particularly, this administration’s legacy projects, namely: Lagos – Ibadan Expressway; Abuja – Kaduna-Kano Expressway and the Second Niger Bridge as well as the Mambilla Power Project which, when completed, will provide electricity to some three million homes in Nigeria”, explained the APC.
The party called on the PDP to join the clamour for greater cooperation amongst countries in honouring the international agreements set out in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and in the implementation of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) principles on the repatriation of stolen assets.
It said the PDP should understand that the funds being repatriated under the President Buhari government is an indictment on successive PDP administrations which many countries found too corrupt and with a renowned propensity to reloot the stolen monies, hence they held on to much of the funds.
The APC further said: “When the PDP administration under President Olusegun Obasanjo left office on 29 May 2007, the government had recouped $2 billion, including the $825 million previously retrieved by General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Switzerland and Bailiwick of Jersey also repatriated $149 million in November 2003 and £22.5 million in June 2011, among other international and local recoveries by successive PDP governments which were shrouded in secrecy.
“Successive PDP governments strangely resisted widespread calls to periodically publish detailed information on the loot recovery exercise – the amounts recovered, those from whom they were recovered, sources or countries from where they were recovered.
“More importantly, questions about how recouped funds were used were never addressed which led to lack of enthusiasm among host countries towards meeting Nigeria’s requests for the return of stolen assets, until now.
“It is clear that the US, UK and other countries holding our looted funds and assets have now found a trusted government led by President Buhari to return stolen assets and it is our collective pride as a country to regain the trust of the international community”.
