‘Submit Yourself For EFCC Investigation Of N3.7trn Budget Padding, N194bn Stolen From Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State’ – PDP Tells Akpabio

…You Can’t Suppress Investigation, Party Slams APC

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has added a fresh layer to the budget padding allegation against Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, challenging him to submit himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation into the matter and an alleged looting of N108 billion belonging to the people of Akwa Ibom State as well as the N86 billion belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria when he was a Minister of Niger Delta.

Akpabio was governor of Akwa Ibom State for eight years and was Niger Delta minister during the administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

The PDP in a statement on Friday by its spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, said Akpabio must come clean of those allegations insisting that he must step aside to allow for investigation.

The party also slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC), Akpabio’s party, having defected from the PDP, declaring that the party cannot stop an investigation into the allegation which has rattled the country since a Bauchi Senator, Abdul Ningi, revealed what many Nigeria have described as unprecedented corruption.

Ningi had alleged on several news platforms that N3.7trn was discovered in the 2024 budget to be without line items.

His allegation was debated during plenary in the past week and led to his suspension for three months.

Amid calls for full investigation into the allegation and for Akpabio to step down especially from the PDP, the APC said the call for Akpabio to “step aside over the matter of an unsubstantiated allegation of budget padding by the Senate is nothing short of crass buffoonery.”

But the PDP has replied to the ruling party’s statement stating that the party is attempting to suppress the demand for an open investigation into what it called “improper insertion of N3.7 trillion for non-existing projects in the 2024 budget.”

The PDP asserted that “from the incoherent, knee-jerk and dismissive statement issued by the APC leadership in the Senate on Thursday, March 14, 2024, it is clear that it is jittery that an open and detailed investigation into the allegation will further expose the perpetrators and how money was allegedly shared among APC lawmakers.

The party said the “statement further confirms the presence of an APC budget cabal in the Senate and that the Senator Akpabio-led APC leadership is insensitive and does not care about the welfare of the Nigerian people.

“It is highly provocative that at this time when Nigerians are passing through severe economic hardship, the APC leadership in the Senate is busy defending and frustrating investigation into allegations of massive manipulation and looting of resources meant for the wellbeing of the citizens.”

The party emphasised the need for the Akpabio-led APC leadership in the Senate “to know that no amount of threats, harassment, suspension of whistleblowers and attempts to blackmail the opposition through diversionary press statements and sponsored articles in a section of the media can suppress the demand for an open investigation into the alleged budget padding which is already in the public domain.”

The party stressed that it and Nigerians in general are however “not deterred by attacks by the APC leadership in the Senate which is a clear case of corruption fighting back in the face of public scrutiny.”

More importantly, the former ruling party argued that “the failure by the Akpabio-led APC leadership to allow for investigation into the budget padding allegation constitutes a huge smear on the image of the Senate and destroys its rectitude and integrity to perform its Constitutional duty to investigate and oversight other public institutions; a situation that spells doom to our Constitutional democracy if not immediately checked.

“If Senator Akpabio has nothing to fear, he should immediately recall Senator Abdul Ningi and allow for an open and detailed investigation into the allegation of discrete insertion of N3.7 trillion into the 2024 budget.

“Our Party, standing shoulder to shoulder with Nigerians, insists that Senator Akpabio should step aside and allow for a credible investigation, as he cannot be a judge in this matter.”

The PDP also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to restore the integrity of the 2024 budget by immediately ordering an open investigation into the alleged insertion as well as a holistic review of the budget.

Furthermore, the PDP said it “stands by its demand that Senator Akpabio should report at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation into the alleged looting of N108 billion belonging to the people of Akwa Ibom State and the N86 billion alleged contract scam under his watch as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs respectively.”