Press Statement
…Calls on NASS to Institute Joint Ad-hoc Committee to Investigate
Allegations
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the memo by the Attorney General
of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, indicting the acting Chairman
of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, of
financial scam, has further exposed the abysmal corruption, deception
and hypocrisy that pervade the Buhari administration.
The party asserts that it is the worst national embarrassment in the
history of Nigeria, that the head of anti-corruption agency in an
administration that prides itself on zero tolerance for corruption, is
being dragged on allegation of diversion of recovered funds and
fraudulent sale of assets seized by the agency.
Malami’s memo has also exposed the credentials of President Muhammadu
Buhari’s anti-corruption architecture, rubbished his standing as Africa
Union (AU) Anti-Corruption Champion and shattered our national integrity
in the international arena.
The world can now see that the much hyped anti-corruption fight of the
Buhari administration, has been nothing but a huge fraud and a racket by
certain persons in the APC administration to harass political opponents,
intimidate and extort money from innocent Nigerians and steal public
funds.
Nigerians and the world have further seen why corruption has worsened
under the Buhari administration, as copiously documented by credible
international organization, including the Transparency International
(TI).
Indeed, our party, Nigerians across board and, of course, members of the
international community, have completely lost confidence in President
Buhari’s capacity to fight corruption as he has not demonstrated the
littlest effort against corruption since he came into office in 2015.
Instead, Mr. President had continued to run a system that condones
corrupt practices by officials of his administration while providing
cover for individuals indicted for corruption including those who are
now serving as cabinet ministers and other federal appointees in his
government.
The PDP recalled that President Buhari had insisted on Magu as the EFCC
Chairman despite his rejection by the Senate over reports by the
Department of State Services (DSS), which raised certain integrity
issues against him.
The party further recalled that the DSS report, which was read out on
the floor of the Senate, allegedly stated that “Magu has failed the
integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the
anti-corruption stand of the current government”.
Our party therefore holds the latest report coming from none other than
the Attorney General of the Federation; the EFCC’s supervising minister,
who believably has unhindered access to facts and documents related to
the anti-graft issues, must be received by President Buhari as a huge
demand on him to clean up the system.
Moreover, following the allegation of diversion of recovered funds
coming from the nation’s Attorney General, the EFCC Chairman has lost
all moral rectitude to preside over our nation’s anti-corruption agency
to investigate and prosecute others until he comes clean of these
horrible allegations.
However, given this administration’s history of concealments and cover
for indicted officials, our party enjoins the National Assembly to
immediately constitute a joint ad-hoc committee and commence an
independent investigation into these alleged disgraceful acts which has
the potencies of collapsing our nation’s integrity before the comity of
nations.
Our party also calls on Mr. Magu to immediately step aside and submit
himself for an independent investigation in order to clear his name.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
