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| President Muhammadu Buhari. |
After taking a critical look at the unpalatable
situation in the country, the National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Prince Uche Secondus today, Friday July 24, 2020 at a media briefing on
the state of the nation called on President Muhammadu Buhari to save the nation
from further sliding into the abyss by throwing in the towel.
Prince Secondus while pointing out that Nigeria is
currently undergoing a free fall, as corruption, and insecurity have engulfed
the nation, said: “What we are witnessing in our country today is a total
collapse of the nation, the country is on ventilator gasping for air, under
such circumstance, President Buhari should do the honourable thing required of
an elderstatesman in situations like this, THROW IN THE TOWEL because Nigeria
is on and save the country from ruins.
Below is full text of the statement of the PDP national
chairman.
Being
Address of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince
Uche Secondus at a media briefing on the state of the Nation at the PDP
National Secretariat, Wadata, House, Abuja. On July 24, 2020.
"Nigeria in a free fall, as corruption,
insecurity engulfs the Nation"
Preamble.
Gentlemen of the press, I have had to call you again
to discuss the frightening developments in our country.
As an opposition party, the PDP has screamed endlessly
to high heavens but it's becoming very clear to all that the ears we are
targeting are deaf as nothing on ground shows that there is a government in
this country.
No attempt is being made from any corner to stem the
freighting tide in our land.
No effort is being made from any angle to halt the
on-going free fall being witnessed in all fronts in the country. Nigerians have
become helpless and have come to accept and live like citizens of nations
without leader and with no direction.
Where do we start looking at the state of the nation
when all segments of governance have collapsed.
Insecurity.
Nothing establishes the fact that there is no
governance in the country more than the worsening state of insecurity. Having
exhausted their propaganda of winning the war on terrorism only in their press
releases, as reality endowed on all, both the military and political leaders
are now helpless and confused.
What the Nigerian Senate did on Tuesday when it asked
the service chiefs to resign was to show to the World that there is no
executive arm of government in place.
Having few months back advised the executive to sack
the service chiefs for having out lived their relevance and re-engineer the
military for the emerging challenges, and having watched the security situation
in the country grow from worse to worse, the legislators have limited option
but to do what they did at least to show the people they represent that they
are sensitive to their plights.
Not even during the three year brutal civil war did we
witness as much as over 300 soldiers absconding their duties and pouring abuses
on their commander. Only poor leadership from the military and the polity can
drag down morale of soldiers to such pitable level. The Presidency rising
immediately to challenge the Senate shows also the level of confusion in the
system.
Corruption.
Since transparency International said few years ago
that the worst corruption was going-on in Nigeria under this regime, the
situation has continued to worsen.
It has now become a bazaar with no pretense about it
with all critical agencies of government including the anti-graft body
themselves grossly engulfed in it.
The nation's economy is walking to depression because
we are least in recession and it's being fast tracked by the widening scope of
corruption involving operatives at the high places.
The free for all corruption going on all over the
place leaves us with the impression that the country is dying and there has
been a scramble for what one can get out of it before the final demise.
It's very disheartening that as the looting and the re-looting of the
nation's resources are going on under the watch of the acclaimed
anti-corruption President no serious reactions is coming from government that
prides itself to be fighting corruption.
Rather than confront the already exposed corruption
cases, the government deliberately takes cautious steps to play it down with a
view to protecting their members who are neck deep in the growing sleaze.
"After providence decided to expose the massive
fraud going on in the nation's anti-corruption agency, the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the last five years, rather than bring it
to the fore, the Presidency in the great cover up decided to take the
investigation including the interrogation of suspects to Aso Rock Villa behind
camera where all the exposed issues are kept away from the public glare.
We are aware that after the massive fraud exposition
involving critical members of the administration, subtle moves are on behind
the scene to free culprits and save the face of the government at the expense
of the nation.
This has been the case since this administration came
in 2015 disguising as an anti- corruption regime while in reality looting the
country dry.
"After their double speak on fuel subsidy and
prizing, they have recorded the highest amount of subsidy in the petroleum
sector while running the show in utmost secrecy with the President presiding as
both the President and the Petroleum Minister.
As we speak, the big corruption cover up is on-going
in critical sectors, the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, the Maritime Sector, the
Customs, the Federal inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Nigeria Social Insurance a
Trust Fund, NSITF, North East Development Commission, NNPC crude Oil sale to
China etc.
Nothing brings out the exact character of President
Buhari's administration to corruption than the on-going free for all fraud at
the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, where the so called forensic
auditors sent in by the President to unearth a fraud are themselves becoming
visible accomplice to the crime. The Senate has already indicted the Interim
Management Committee, IMC, and the supervising Minister Senator Godswill
Akpabio. A commission set up to helping the suffering people of Niger Delta has
become a bank for APC
members.
Fraud at a
glance.
100mb crude oil
sales to China by Sahara energy as reported over 2.5b dollars
Over N1.3
trillion spent between 2015 and 2019 with N4.923b of NDDC spent outside the
budget.
NSITF N3.4b
fraud
The growing
fresh fuel Subsidy fraud
Unaccounted for
N100b for North East Commission.
Not to talk of
the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs in the name of covid-19 palliatives
Fraudulent
acquisition of banks, telecom companies amounting to billions of dollars by
cabals in this administration.
EfCC blockage
of N100b tax laundering petition involving a high profile person in APC
Conclusions.
Gentlemen of the press, the state of our nation today
requires that all hands must be on deck especially you media practitioners who
should not relent in holding public officers accountable.
Nigerians should not be distracted by the drama
playing out at the various fraud case hearings whether in Aso Villa with
Ibrahim Magu or at the National Assembly with two Ministers Akpabio and Chris
Ngige, entertaining Nigerians, they are designs to remove public attention to
the real issue.
In this
country under the watch of President Buhari and his APC, we have found
ourselves in the environment as the
French economist, Federico
Bastiat said that "when plunder
becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time
they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code
that glorifies it." This regime has found a code for corruption and they
now glorify it and make fun of it.
Finally gentlemen of the press what we are witnessing
in our country today is a total collapse of the nation, the country is on
ventilator gasping for air, under such circumstance, President Buhari should do
the honourable thing required of an elderstatesman in situations like this,
THROW IN THE TOWEL because Nigeria is on and save the country from ruins.
Thanks for your attention and God bless.
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