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$1BN FOR B’HARAM FIGHT: Don’t forget, your govs also approved, APC tells PDP

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$1BN FOR B’HARAM FIGHT: Don’t forget, your govs also approved, APC tells PDP

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reminded the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the National Economic Council (NEC) is made up of 11 PDP governors who also approved that the federal government withdraw $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to fight Boko Haram in the North East.

It said it is not like the PDP, that would divert funds meant to fight insurgency into private pockets.
The ruling party was responding to the PDP criticism against the $1 billion the NEC, comprising all state governors, recently asked the Federal Government to withdraw from the ECA to fight Boko Haram in the North East.

The PDP had wondered why the APC led Federal Government would need such an amount of money to fight the insurgents President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has constantly claimed have been “technically” defeated.

But the national publicity secretary of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who replied the PDP in a statement in Abuja, described PDP’s argument of the money to fight insurgency as baseless and ridiculous.

According to him, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) has 11 PDP governors as members. He added that more than one-third of the NGF was made up of members of other parties other than the APC.

Wondering how it was possible for non-APC governors to support a decision to approve funds that will be meant to fund APC as PDP had alleged, Abdullahi noted that the opposition by its own admission was accusing its governors of disloyalty or suggesting that they were bewitched into supporting the decision.

“We can understand why it is easy for the PDP to arrive at its ludicrous allegation. A similar approval in excess of $2bn was granted to the PDP government when they were in power. They knew what they did with the money. It is a classic case of a serial killer who sees even a table knife as a murder weapon.

“The PDP presided over a government that made it possible for money meant for weapons to be diverted into paying marabouts and all manner of political jobbers ahead of the 2015 elections.

“Therefore, the PDP thinks the same thing is about to happen. They have not realised that it is a new day and President Muhammadu Buhari will not play politics with money meant to protect the lives of innocent Nigerians or allow anyone to engage in such brigandage that Nigerians suffered under the PDP,” part of the statement read.

READ ALSO: Tinubu’s influence can’t prevent your humiliating loss in 2019, PDP taunts

Also on PDP claim that there was no need for such an amount of money to fight Boko Haram that has been technically defeated, Abdullahi said, “Winning the peace remains a critical phase of warfare. The PDP does not understand that winning the peace is as important as winning the war.”

“There is therefore no contradiction in saying that Boko Haram is technically defeated and saying that more weapons and training are needed for our military and the military of neighbouring countries whose cooperation is necessary to finally rid our countries of the menace of Boko Haram.”

 

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