Nigerian govt releases names of alleged looters from opposition party

Apparently beleaguered by increasing attacks from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its perceived failures, the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government on Friday released a list of some of the opposition party members who allegedly looted the nation’s treasury.

The list which was released by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at a press conference in Lagos on Friday, included names of some officials in the past government.

Also on the list, which the government released, were names of PDP members who are currently, under trial for alleged corruption and financial crimes.

Mohammed said while releasing the names,that “The PDP has challenged us to name the looters under their watch. They said they did not loot the treasury. Well, I am sure they know that the treasury was looted dry under their watch. Yet they decided to grandstand. This shows the hollowness of their apology.”

Bellow is the list as released by the Federal Government and the allegations leveled against each alleged looter:

PDP Chairman Uche Secondus: Allegation; On the 19th of Feb 2015, he took N200 million only from the office of the NSA.

Former PDP Financial Secretary: Allegation; On the 24th of Oct 2014, he took N600 million only from the office of former NSA.

Former National Publicity Secretary Olisah Metuh: On trial for allegedly collecting N1.4bn from the office of former NSA.

Dr Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications: A PDP chieftain; On trial for allegedly taking N2.1 billion from the office of the former NSA.

Former SSA to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei: On trial, over N830 million allegedly kept in accounts of four different companies.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Cousin Robert Azibaola: On Thursday, a Federal High Court ruled that he has a case to answer for allegedly collecting $40 million from the office of former NSA.

The Federal Government said that it had to reveal the names of the alleged looters and the funds allegedly stolen in response to PDP’s challenge that the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government should go ahead and name those alleged to have looted the country and destroyed the economy.

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According to Mohammed, the released list is just a tip of the iceberg. He added that it shows that the APC did not make the cases up as some of them currently have cases in court.

He added, “They are in court and the records are available. Some of the people on this list are seeking to plea bargain, and that is a fact. We insist that Nigeria was looted blind under the watch of the PDP and that the starting point in tendering an apology is for them to return the loot.

“We will not stop talking about the massive looting by the PDP. They brought Nigeria to this sorry pass. We are now looking around for loans to build infrastructure, and they ask us not to talk about it. We will talk about it.”

This is coming just as good number of Nigerians have continuously accused Buhari of staging a lopsided fight against corruption, where only members of the opposition party are accused of corruption and that once an opposition member said to be corrupt defects to APC he is no longer considered corrupt.

 

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