August 8, 2018
Press Statement
PDP To Buhari: Stop Punishing Nigerians, Unfreeze Benue, Akwa-Ibom Accounts Now
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has charged President Muhammadu
Buhari to immediately order the unfreezing of the official accounts of
Akwa-Ibom and Benue states illegally blocked by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as such is a direct attack on
innocent Nigerians in those states.
The PDP condemns the freezing as illegal, unconstitutional, overtly
wicked and cannot be justified under any guise within the clear dictates
and contemplation of our laws and practice as a nation.
The PDP rejects the action of the Federal Government and counsels the
Buhari Presidency not to hide under the EFCC to unleash punishment and
hardship on the people in states perceived to be averse to his 2019
re-election bid.
In illegally blocking the flow of funds to these states, the All
Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government has ostensibly
commenced a reprehensible design of using economic deprivation as a
political tool to arm-twist governors and states to support President
Buhari’s re-election in 2019.
The APC has been seeking ways to subjugate Nigerians, for which it has
now resorted to subjecting millions of compatriots already impoverished
by the misrule of the Buhari administration, to face more hardship by
seizing funds legally belonging to them.
Nigerians are all aware that no section of our constitution or any law
in Nigeria for that matter confers any agency of the Federal Government
with powers to interfere or put any restrictions on funds belonging or
accruable to states as federating units of our nation.
Apart from its State Assembly, no other government body or institution
has the powers of appropriation or restrictions on any funds belonging
to the state.
The PDP therefore urges all Nigerians to stand up and resist this
dangerous trend introduced by the desperate APC to subjugate Nigerians,
for which Akwa-Ibom and Benue states are now being used to test the will
of the people in this direction.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
