The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) urges the National Assembly to
respond to demands by Nigerians by immediately setting up an adhoc
committee to recover the allegedly missing $1bn drawn from the Excess
Crude Account by the Buhari Presidency in 2017, purportedly for security
services.
The party craves the National Assembly, as true representatives of the
people, to be firm in invoking its powers under sections 88 and 89 of
the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to invite President Muhammadu Buhari
to give account of the money, which was drawn from the ECA by his
Presidency, without recourse to legislative appropriation.
The demand by the PDP is predicated on allegations of complicity in the
public space against the Buhari Presidency, following its failure to
address the matter since the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen.
Babagana Mongunu (rtd), who is in charge of the nation’s security
architecture, confessed that he is not aware of the whereabouts of the
money.
Whereas section 88 gives the National Assembly the overriding powers to
conduct investigations to, among other things, expose corruption and
inefficiency in administration of public funds, section 89 empowers it,
among other things, to summon ANY PERSON in Nigeria to give evidence or
produce any document under his possession or control, related to the
issues under investigation
The PDP therefore urges the National Assembly to uphold the constitution
by inviting President Buhari to produce documents that approved the
withdrawal of the money, the terms of withdrawal, the channeling of the
funds, as well as those involved in its handling.
The party further implores the federal legislature to stand in the
interest of the nation and resist all plots by the All Progressives
Congress (APC) and the cabal at the Presidency to sweep the matter under
the carpet.
The PDP calls on the legislators to reflect on the pains of Nigerians,
particularly, victims of killings, bloodlettings, kidnappings and other
acts of violence, which continued unrepressed, while funds meant for
security were reportedly being frittered.
This is especially as allegation in the public space remain rife that
funds meant for security in our nation were diverted to finance APC 2019
election campaigns, while insecurity fester in our country.
The PDP notes that since the Buhari Presidency and the APC do not have
any cogent clarifications, the National Assembly should exercise its
investigative powers under the constitution to interrogate the issue as
well as recover the money in the general interest.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
