By Chinwendu Agoha (Governance Reporter)
Can any past President elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) publicly deny acquiring companies or mansions while in office like President Muhammadu Buhari just did in Imo state?
The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) threw this challenge in a statement by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke. The group added that this is why previous Presidents did not have the political will to make some of the major breakthroughs achieved by the Buhari administration.
"We have seen the lame move by PDP to trivialise President Buhari's claim by making unverified allegations that could simply be described as 'tales by moonlight'.
"We were actually expecting to hear the party's media handlers or its national leadership to take up the challenge thrown by the President and prove him wrong, rather than resort to watery allegations.
"By reverting to the worn-out lie of President Buhari presiding over the 'most corrupt government in Nigeria's history', PDP had thought the vast majority of Nigerians were foolish.
"So if the opposition party cannot prove that the man at the helm is tainted by corruption as it claims, how does it expect Nigerians to believe that his administration is corrupt.
"We see it as a case of misery looking for company with the way PDP literally manufactured stories of missing funds from one government agency to the other, when it is common knowledge that the former ruling party's 16-year hold on power was one that witnessed massive pillaging of public funds.
"We make bold to say that there is no single adult Nigerian that is not aware of how the party turned public funds meant for arms purchase at the height of the war against insurgency into a slush fund that was shared to PDP leaders at will through the Office of the National Security Adviser.
"Or is it the $115m slush fund that former Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke distributed just before the 2015 Presidential election to senior PDP chieftains and top electoral officials nationwide, some of whom have been convicted, that the party thinks people would forget in a hurry?
"This is a party that facilitated a $470m loan from China for the CCTV project in Abuja, yet not one of the surveillance cameras is working, but the Buhari administration is saddled with repaying a multi million dollar loan that was looted by PDP operatives.
"In saner climes, no self-respecting individual would publicly identify himself as a member of a party that indulged in such massive looting of public funds".
BMO added that it was surprised that PDP is still holding on to a flawed position that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a safe haven for politicians with corruption baggage.
"It beggars belief that the opposition party has not stopped rehashing its oft-repeated drivel that opposition members who defected to the APC are automatically free of corruption charges.
"Our view is that only an irredeemable liar will hold on to a position that has been variously proved wrong with facts and, in many cases, figures.
"As a man of unquestionable integrity, President Buhari will never shield anyone that deserves his day in court from facing trial as was seen in the case of the former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, who not only lost his job over the grass cutting scandal, but is also facing trial.
"There is also the case of a Buhari-era Head of Service, Winifred Ita-Oyo, who has been facing trial over an alleged N3bn bribe to prove that the President is not prepared to preside over a government where corruption issues are treated as what PDP calls 'family affair'.
"As for former PDP member who moved to the ruling party with corruption cases, it is common knowledge that former Plateau State Governor Joshua Dariye and his Taraba counterpart Jolly Nyame are serving prison terms while another one, Orji Uzor Kalu,who incidentally is the Senate Majority whip is enjoying a temporary relief, courtesy of the courts, even after he had been sentenced to jail.
"There are also others including APC's former gubernatorial candidate in Edo state Pastor Osaze Iyamu who allegedly benefited from the Diezani slush fund and former JAMB Registrar Professor Dibu Ojerinde who is still on trial in spite of forfeiting property worth billions of naira to the government.
"So the earlier PDP stops acting like Nigerians are suffering from collective amnesia to have forgotten its corruption tainted stay in power at the centre, the better.
BMO assured Nigerians that President Buhari would continue to bring his personal integrity to bear on governance while in office. NNL.
