- * Says He Is Not Different From Past Corruption-Tainted PDP Leadership
- Describes Buhari's Outing At Glasgow Climate Summit As Proof Of His Booming Global Stature
By Chinwendu Agoha (Governance Reporter)
The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has said that the new leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not different from previous ones in terms of what it described as the "zeal for converting public funds to private use under any guise".
The group said in a statement by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, that the emergence of a self-confessed beneficiary of misappropriated funds from the office of the National Security Adviser as PDP chairman is clear evidence of this assertion.
"On the surface, the choice of former Senate President Iyorchia Ayu as a replacement for Uche Secondus after several months of crisis could have been a master-stroke, but the snag is that, like many senior opposition figures, he is not free from the financial malfeasance that signposted 16 years of PDP misrule.
"There is no greater pointer to Ayu’s lack of credibility than opposition to his then leadership in the National Assembly that was championed by his own people from the Middle Belt Caucus. Iyorchia Ayu’s tenure as a Minister also needs to be scrupulously examined in view of several reported and unreported incidents which put a question mark on his integrity, cumulating in his fallout with, and a subsequent sack by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
"Here is a man who admitted to collecting N345m from the NSA office purportedly for security and electoral consultancy. However, a cursory look at the 19-count charge filed against former NSA Sambo Dasuki showed that the amount was transferred from funds meant for arms purchase to two accounts of a company 'controlled by Emmanuel Lawani on behalf of Iyorchia Ayu, for the construction of a shopping mall at Jabi, Abuja; “purporting same to be paid for satellite charges and security equipment”, thereby committing an offense punishable under section 315 of the penal code Act, Cap 532, Vol. 4 Laws of the Federation 2004'.
"So for us, the fact that the new PDP chairman is a beneficiary of sleaze, of misappropriated funds shared to the party leaders in 2014 is true to the character of a party which has almost always had national chairmen whose names have featured in court documents.
"We recall that aside from allegations that forced Secondus out of office, he was mentioned in the $1.6bn fraud trial of an oil dealer, Jide Omokore, for collecting 25 exotic cars bought with millions of naira suspected to be proceeds of oil fraud.
"One of his predecessors, Adamu Muazu, was also named by a prosecution witness, who is a car dealer, as a beneficiary of 23 exotic cars from the same source".
Considering his record, it is doubtful if Iyorchia Ayu can give any positive leadership to a party that wants to lead Nigeria. The choice of Ayu, therefore, shows that the PDP is unrepentant in its brazen efforts at dragging Nigeria back into the days of pillaging our commonwealth.
BMO also accused PDP of indulging in what it has always falsely accused President Muhammadu Buhari of in the composition of its National Working Committee (NWC).
"There is hardly a time that the opposition has not accused the President and his administration of 'mismanaging the nation's diversity, even in the face of contrary views, but PDP has proved that it cannot be trusted to practice what it preaches.
"It is a fact that 18 out of the 21 NWC members emerged by consensus, yet there was no effort by the party to ensure religious or regional balancing or keep to its vow of giving women a major say in party affairs.
"We wonder how a party that has proved to be incapable of managing diversity in its rank can do differently at the national level.
"But we also know that Nigerians can easily see through the vacuous pledges to rescue Nigeria when it is obvious how the party pillaged and looted everything in sight between 1999 and 2015.
"It was so bad that the party leaders even looted the N21bn realized at two fundraising events for its abandoned PDP headquarters complex which was estimated at N10bn".
Meanwhile, the BMO has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has once again proved to be the champion of Africa's causes with his afro-centric position at the ongoing UN Climate Change Summit (COP 26) in Scotland.
Making this assertion in another joint statement by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), said that the President is already showing the capacity for the leadership of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall that he would soon assume.
"Even before President Buhari arrived in Glasgow for the event, he had made a Pan-African demand, through a widely circulated opinion piece, for the more developed nations to tread carefully in their push for an energy source that could endanger the African continent.
"In the article titled 'The Climate Crisis Will Not be Fixed by Causing an Energy Crisis in Africa', the President delivered a message on a possible crisis situation which many African leaders would have been reticent about, but which clearly resonated across countries.
"His concerns centered around the rush to phase out fossil fuels and embark on what he described as a new global race in lithium for batteries for electric cars as well as how it could eventually endanger geopolitical stability in Africa.
"We see this as totally in President Buhari's character as the champion of African causes and we have not been surprised to see him using the Summit to again draw global attention to the situation at the Lake Chad, as well as the challenges of desertification.
"These are some of the issues that have had a negative impact on the continent for years and we make bold to say that President Buhari will certainly leverage on his impending role as the head of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall to achieve some results.
"We also note how the President told the audience of world leaders that Nigeria plans to prioritize the education of local communities and the use of technology in order to address the physical and socio-economic aspects and effects of desertification, drought and climate change".
BMO added that this was not the first time in recent years that the President would be taking issues that are important to African countries to the global stage.
"We recall how he used his speech at the UN General Assembly in September this year to make a case for debt relief for less developed countries in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic which he argued was affecting the capacity of many of the countries to repay loans before the pandemic.
"So we dare say that Africa has a real champion of its cause at the global stage in President Buhari", it said.
BMO also assured Nigerians that the President will not abandon his duties in the country while championing regional causes. NNL.
