THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that President Buhari is mounting pressure on the Independent Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC) to let his son-in-law, Yau Kumo off it’s hook.
The party was responding to a revelation of $65 million (N31 billion) fraud in the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), in which Buhari’s son-in-law is alleged to be involved.
In a statement today by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said the development had further confirmed that the Buhari Presidency was indeed “a sanctuary for fraudsters, treasury looters and common criminals”.
It, however, urged the anti-graft agency not to succumb to the pressure.
The statement read in part: “The party charges the ICPC not to succumb to reported pressure from the cabal in the Buhari Presidency but to track down Yau Kumo, the former Managing Director of the FMBN, who had already been declared wanted, and bring him to book alongside his accomplices.
“It speaks volumes that the Buhari Presidency had remained silent in the face of this huge fraud involving Mr President’s son-in-law; a beneficiary of the primitive family patronage in the Buhari administration, only for certain members of the cabal to be reportedly mounting pressure on the ICPC to let him off the hook.
“The PDP holds as wicked, afflicting and provocative that while millions of hardworking Nigerians cannot afford their daily meals and other basic necessities of life due to the misrule and corruption of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its administration, they are daily assailed by revelations of unbridled treasury looting under President Buhari’s watch.
“Is it not provocative that at the time the Buhari administration is moving to cut workers’ salaries; increased the cost of fuel, electricity and other tariffs; in a country with over 33 per cent unemployment and where citizens have been subjected to the worst forms of poverty; government officials, cronies and relations of those in power are busy looting our agencies and carting away our common patrimony?
“It is even more distressing that the looted FMBN money is part of funds contributed by Nigerians to meet their home needs which have instead fallen under the predatory proclivities of the APC administration.
“The party asserts that Nigerians can now see that while the Buhari Presidency parades a ‘holier than thou attitude’, the nation’s vaults have been laid open for the ruthless pillaging by family members, relations, cronies in the Buhari Presidency.
“Only last week, the nation was jolted by reports of the looting of over N165 billion in the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) under the suspended Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman and the purview of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Ameachi, leading to widespread demand for their sack and prosecution.
“This is in addition to the alleged involvement of the wife of the Transportation Minister, Mrs Edith Amaechi, in the reported N48 billion contract scam currently rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
“The PDP urges the Buhari Presidency to allow for an open investigation of Mr President’s son-in-law as well as those fingered in the fraud in the NPA and the NDDC”.
