The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Thursday declared that the alleged $25 billion contract fraud at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was perpetrated to raise funds for the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
The opposition party, which described as disgusting what it called a high level of looting in the current administration, expressed shock at \u201cthe loud silence of President Buhari on the humongous corruption and other illegalities currently being exposed at the nation\u2019s cash cow, the NNPC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe $25 billion said to have been the subject of the latest controversy, when converted to naira, is about N9 trillion, a sum that is bigger than the nation\u2019s annual budget,\u201d says PDP, noting that \u201cThis is one of the very many reasons the nation\u2019s economy has nosedived under the inept administration of the APC.\u201d<\/p>\n
PDP spokesperson Dayo Adeyeye said at a press briefing in Abuja that \u201cPowerful people at the corridors of power are tacitly involved in this. If the president\u2019s powerful Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, could sit on the NNPC board and such a calamity is taking place without an eyelid being blinked, we are forced to believe that the stealing is being done to the advantage of the president who has shown by his body language that the only thing that matters most to him for now is his second term ambition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill it be considered a \u2018hate speech\u2019 if we say the money being stolen by President Buhari\u2019s men is being kept aside into a special pool for the prosecution of his second term ambition?\u201d<\/p>\n
The PDP challenged the president to prove it wrong by allowing his allies \u201cbeing caught up in acts of brazen stealing of our commonwealth to get punished in accordance with the laws of the land. Anything aside from this, we will take as confirmation of our suspicion that the rottenness is from the very top.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opposition party said it expected that \u201cthe president, who prides himself as an indefatigable corruption fighter, would for once try to live above board, by genuinely allowing one of his own, accused of corruption, get properly investigated and prosecuted as a show of his impartiality in the war against corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the need to place the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, on immediate suspension, the opposition party said \u201cWe view the allegations levelled against Baru by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, as too grave to be swept under the carpet and we insist that the NNPC GMD must be treated like an accused who should not have the opportunity to influence investigation into his alleged misdeeds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this light, we demand an immediate suspension of Baru so that proper investigation can be carried out by the relevant anti-corruption agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch as we commend the National Assembly for indicating interest in probing the allegations against the NNPC GMD as approved in the adoption of the motion moved by Senator Samuel Anyanwu at the Wednesday plenary, we appeal to the leadership of the Senate to prevail on the Ad-hoc committee set up for the purpose of the investigation, to make their sitting open to all Nigerians so that nothing will be surreptitiously swept under the carpet.\u201d<\/p>\n
PDP also lamented the failure of the president to act on the report of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and in refusing to hand over Babachir Lawal to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for proper investigation and possible prosecution for graft.<\/p>\n
According to Adeyeye, \u201cThe sum involved in the NNPC scandal is $25 Billion. Less than 10 per cent of that ($2 billion) is involved in the so-called arms fund allegedly converted by the former NSA for which hundreds of Nigerians have been arrested and hounded. Nigerians can now see the hypocrisy in the so-called anti-corruption fight. We may as well say that the privileged class of APC members enjoys total immunity from the anti-corruption campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allegations raised by Kachikwu are a confirmation of our earlier stance that the APC administration is in tatters, an administration without coordination, but one planted firmly in the hands of a cabal who are stealing the nation dry while the president continues to feign ignorance of the sickening stench.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not, how on earth can President Buhari justify a situation where a minister he appointed to serve under him, presiding over an important sector like the oil and gas, be turned to a mere house-help who must get clearance from some \u2018outsiders\u2019 before accessing the president?<\/p>\n
\u201cHow on earth will a mere MD of a corporation have the temerity to sideline a minister under whom he works and take decisions without consultation with the appropriate authority? How on earth could the NNPC GMD have been bold enough to sideline the entire board of NNPC and take such far- reaching decisions that have grave implications on the nation\u2019s economy alone?\u201d it queried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Thursday declared that the alleged $25 billion contract fraud at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was perpetrated to raise funds for the re-election bid…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/pdp-696x418.jpg?fit=696%2C418&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10354,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/senate-uncovers-alleged-n10-trillion-fraud-nnpc\/","url_meta":{"origin":35225,"position":0},"title":"Senate Uncovers Alleged N10 Trillion Fraud In NNPC","author":"Daniji Emmanuel","date":"March 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Senate has uncovered an alleged fraud of N10 trillion by staff of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in connivance with officials of some independent marketers and other key players in the petroleum sector between 2006 and 2016. Against this backdrop, the Senate joint Committees on Petroleum (upstream and downstream)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NNPC, Abia pipeline explosion","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/nnpc4.jpeg?fit=632%2C425&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/nnpc4.jpeg?fit=632%2C425&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/nnpc4.jpeg?fit=632%2C425&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35055,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/nnpc-northern-nigerian-national-petroleum-corporation-buhari-reno-omokri\/","url_meta":{"origin":35225,"position":1},"title":"Why NNPC is Northern Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Under Buhari – Reno Omokri","author":"Arinze Ago","date":"October 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Reno Omokri, the former Special Adviser on New Media to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has said under the President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s administration there is no more Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, but\u00a0\u201cNorthern Nigeria Petroleum Corporation.\u201d The former Presidential aide made the remark while reacting to the squabble between the Minister of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reno-Omokri","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Reno-Omokri.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Reno-Omokri.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Reno-Omokri.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":162661,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/buhari-receives-nnpcs-incorporation-certificate\/","url_meta":{"origin":35225,"position":2},"title":"Buhari Receives NNPC’s Incorporation Certificate","author":"Reporter","date":"October 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"President Muhammadu Buhari has received the Certificate of Incorporation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He was presented with the certificate at the State House on Friday by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, Registrar Corporate Affairs Commission, Alhaji Garba Abubakar and NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Buhari-NNPC-main-2.jpg?fit=650%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Buhari-NNPC-main-2.jpg?fit=650%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Buhari-NNPC-main-2.jpg?fit=650%2C350&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53315,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/arrest-adeosun-now-pdp-tells-buhari\/","url_meta":{"origin":35225,"position":3},"title":"‘Arrest Adeosun Now’, PDP Tells Buhari","author":"Reporter","date":"July 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday charged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack, arrest and arraign his Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun for alleged criminal forgery of her NYSC certificate. \u00a0 PDP warned President Buhari not to provide a cover for Adeosun. \u00a0 The spokesman of the party,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Buhari, Adeosun, Udoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Buhari-Adeosun-Udoma.png?fit=631%2C357&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Buhari-Adeosun-Udoma.png?fit=631%2C357&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Buhari-Adeosun-Udoma.png?fit=631%2C357&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109690,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/atiku-vows-to-sell-nnpc-if-elected-as-president\/","url_meta":{"origin":35225,"position":4},"title":"Atiku Vows To Sell NNPC If Elected As President","author":"Damilare Salami","date":"January 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, has described the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a \u201cmafia organisation\u201d, vowing to privatise it if elected. 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