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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the National Assembly to commence appropriate constitutional legislative actions against President Buhari for gross misconduct in unilaterally approving the release of $1 billion from the national coffers without legislative approval.
The main opposition party also urged Nigerians to reject and resist the withdrawal, alleging that it is meant to finance President Muhammadu Buhari’s interests in the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s forthcoming national convention and 2019 campaign.
Recall that President Buhari had on Wednesday given approval for the release of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to fight the rising spate of insecurity across the country.
But in a statement by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Thursday, the party said its investigation revealed that the Presidency willfully sidestepped the National Assembly so as to avoid legislative scrutiny and accountability and pave way for the diverting of the fund for selfish purposes.
“It is a notorious fact that the Presidency and the APC have been plotting to loot this $1 billion from our heavily depleted Excess Crude Account (ECA) since last year, using the guise of fight against insurgency.
“This is the same Buhari administration that has been boasting of having technically defeated the insurgents. This is also an administration that is not known to have exhausted subsisting budgetary allocations for defense.
“Nigerians are thoroughly disappointed that President Buhari; the same African Union (AU) ‘anti-corruption champion’, who swore to be above board and to protect the constitution and our laws, will allow himself to fall for the temptation of resorting to ways and means which are totally at variance with the laws and all democratic tenets,” the statement read.
The party urged the National Assembly to scrutinize the constitution and other statute books for the purposes of strengthening the laws guiding the application of funds in the country.
Citing the alleged looting of the N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)’s funds, the party accused the Buhari administration of using the fight against insurgency as a conduit to siphon funds.
It therefore called for an independent investigation into the processes of release and utilization of all special funds for war against insurgency in the last three years.
