The New Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress have challenged the Federal Government to account for the $5bn which has allegedly disappeared from the Excess Crude Account.
The faction of the PDP and the APC separately threw the challenge on Sunday while reacting to a disclosure by the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, who is also the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, while declaring open the second annual retreat of the NGF in Sokoto on Saturday.
Amaechi had claimed that the Excess Crude Account stood at $9bn in January but shrunk to $4bn as of today.
Money accruing from the Federation Account and its sharing by the Federal Account Allocation Committee were among the topics discussed at the retreat.
A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the New PDP, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, in Abuja on Sunday, said the disclosure by the governor was too weighty to be ignored.
Eze said, “We consider this development too weighty to be swept under the carpet in view of the stature of the person making the allegation and the realities on ground.
“For all intents and purposes, Amaechi is not a frivolous person and is not known for making frivolous claims.
“We told Nigerians about the poor handling of our common patrimony by this administration and sadly, nobody took it seriously as of today, the unmistakable evidence is that Nigeria is broke as the Federal Government now finds it difficult to meet its obligations to states, local governments and contractors.”
Eze commended the NGF chairman for bringing the matter to the open and challenged the Federal Government to tell Nigerians what it did with the money.
He also challenged the anti-graft agencies to prove their relevance by unearthing the whereabouts of the money, which he described as huge.
He said the call by the NGF on the NNPC to be transparent in its activities and the need to develop a National Security Framework for the country was also commendable.
While alleging that the present government was running for “a price award as the most corrupt administration in the annals of governance in Nigeria,” he urged Nigerians to heed the advice of the NGF and stop being docile in the face of monumental impunity in the country.
This, he said, was the only way to rescue Nigeria from the path of doom.
Also, the APC criticised the President Goodluck Jonathan administration for the missing $5bn excess crude account fund.
It said that when considered with other graft cases, it showed clearly that the administration swam in corruption.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.
He said, “This government is swimming in corruption. We are also making our own investigation into the missing money, which is $5bn. Even N5m is a lot of money. Now they have taken $5bn; about N800bn. That is what it will take us to have four mainland bridges. I can assure you the last has not been heard about it.”
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, said the ministry was preparing a comprehensive statement that would be issued on Monday(today). Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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