$1bn ECA Fund: APC Has Admitted It Lied Over Boko Haram Defeat – PDP

The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, wondered why the APC was seeking approvals without recourse to due process for purposes of fighting the same insurgents it claimed it had since defeated.

The PDP also wondered why the APC-led Federal Government had to recourse to the National Economic Council (NEC) while “avoiding the direct constitutional appropriation channel of the National Assembly for funding of items already provided for in the federal budget if it actually has nothing to hide.”

The party therefore demanded that the APC apologize to Nigerians for lying to them about the actual state of the fight against insurgency in Nigeria.

The statement read, “The PDP supports the fight against insurgency. We hold our officers and men confronting the terrorists and securing our territorial integrity in high esteem, but we are concerned about the manipulative tendencies connected with the approvals as well as the veracity of claimed purpose of the fund.

“Nigerians would recall that the APC-led Federal Government had claimed that it has since defeated the insurgents.

“If it would take a billion dollar from a nation’s savings to kill what they long claimed dead, then we challenge APC government to come clean and tell Nigerians the whole truth.

“The era of lies and propaganda is long gone and Nigerians now know the truth. The Federal Government must be held accountable and stopped from any move to fritter away our national savings.

“We therefore call on the National Assembly to interrogate this proposed disbursement and subject it to a thorough but rapid interrogation.

“By accepting the $1bn for fighting insurgency, the APC-led Federal Government has admitted that it lied when it announced that it has defeated the insurgents. They should therefore apologize to Nigerians for giving them a false sense of security, resulting in their vulnerability to attacks by terrorists.

“The PDP recalled that the three points upon which APC hinged their promise were security, corruption and economy and it is apparent that they have failed in all.

“On the economy, they have taken us into recession; on security, Boko Haram is still ravaging our people; on the corruption, the APC Government has only embarked on witch hunt of the opposition while enmeshed in monumental corruption thriving unabated right inside the engine of its administration.

“The PDP vowed to ensure the APC does not continue to play with the intelligence of Nigerians, who are now only waiting for 2019 to consign them into the dustbin of history.”