The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Sunday described as
spine-chilling and mind-boggling the massive looting of the nation’s
treasury by public officials, adding that nothing but the total recovery
of the funds would be acceptable to all patriotic Nigerians.
In a statement issued in Lagos by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said anyone who
attempts, either by deeds or words, to sabotage the recovery efforts is
not a patriot and deserves nothing but public opprobrium.
It therefore thanked Nigerians for their overwhelming support for the
Buhari administration in its tough but important task of tracing and
recovering the loots, while also ensuring that the looters face
justice.“It is absolutely gratifying that Nigerians are vehemently
opposed to the few who would rather have the government of the day turn a
blind eye to the looted funds and, in their words, carry on with the
process of governance.
“Truly, what sort of governance can go on if the billions of Naira in a
few hands are not recovered? In the first instance, the government needs
every kobo of the funds it can muster to bring about the change it has
promised Nigerians.
“Secondly, leaving such hair-raising funds in the hands of the few
looters is dangerous, because they can use the funds to destabilize any
government.
“In fact, no one will be surprised if the looters use their dirty funds
to sponsor public demonstrations against the government’s determination
to recover the funds.
“Thirdly, allowing those who privatized the commonwealth to get away is
offering a thumbs-up for looting. No responsible government will do
that,” the APC said.The party further noted that already, the looters
have embarked on a relentless and an increasingly-bold campaign to
discredit the government of the day and sabotage the funds’ recovery
process, using newspaper columnists, ‘talking heads’ and otherwise
respectable opinion leaders.“They and their paid hirelings have tried to
employ sophistry to muddle the waters, but Nigerians are much wiser,
and will not succumb to the dirty antics of the looters’ megaphones,” it
said.
APC said it is necessary to remind Nigerians of the kind of massive
looting of the treasury that took place in the past few years, so they
can better appreciate the seriousness of the issue at stake.The APC
therefore listed some instances of the looting as follows:
– 3.8 trillion Naira out of the 8.1 trillion Naira earned from crude oil (2012-2015) withheld by NNPC
– 2.1 billion US dollars from Excess Crude Account unaccounted for
– Department of Petroleum Resources’ unremitted 109.7 billion Naira royalty from oil firms
– 6 billion US dollars allegedly looted by some Ministers of the last Administration
– 160 billion barrels of crude worth 13.9 billion US dollars lost between 2009 and 2012
– 15 million US dollars from botched arms deal yet to be returned to Nigeria
- 13 billion US dollars in NLNG dividends mostly unaccounted for
- 30 billion Naira rice waiver
- 183 billion naira unaccounted for at the NDDC
The party said the listed ‘missing’ funds constituted just a tip of the
iceberg since they are mostly from a few sectors of the economy, mostly
the oil sector, and were discovered even before the forensic audit now
being under
