FG To Nigerians: Don’t Ever Allow PDP To Come Back To Power
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said it will be suicidal if Nigerians allow the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to come back to power, saying that the President Muhammadu Buhari led government has been trying to clear the Augean stable created by the party in its fight against corruption.
Mohammed, who stated this at a press conference in Lagos, said that the administration has been working round the clock to take the country out of the hell hole where it was dumped by the PDP.
He said, “nothing shows the rot of the past more than the level of corruption which this Administration inherited. Our commonwealth was looted with impunity by the same people who now say they want to come back. Indeed, it will not just be a tragedy, but a double tragedy, if we ever allow these same people to preside over our commonwealth.
“Where do we start? Do we want a Diezani back as Petroleum Minister, after the recovery of at least 43 million dollars and 56 houses from this one person?
“Do we want the 2.9 billion dollars – that’s about one-eighth of the 2018 Budget – that has been successfully traced and recovered from looters by the EFCC since the inauguration of the present administration, to be re-looted? What about the 151 million dollars and N8 billion in looted funds that have been recovered from just three sources as a direct result of the introduction of the whistle-blower policy? Do we want them to be re-looted?
“What about the persistent under-remittance of operating surpluses by State Owned Entities? Under the PDP, JAMB only remitted an aggregate of 51 million Naira. In September 2017, the same JAMB announced it is ready to remit 7.8 billion Naira back to the Government. Do we want JAMB to go back to remitting 51 million Naira?
“ In their time, they lacked the political will to implement the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which they started. We are now fully implementing the TSA. Three trillion Naira, almost half of the estimated revenue in the 2018 budget, has accrued to Government with the enforcement of the TSA policy.
“There is more: With the elimination of thousands of ghost workers, we have saved 120 billion Naira. We have removed the 108 billion Naira in maintenance fees payable to banks, pre-TSA; and monthly, we are saving 24.7 billion Naira with our determined implementation of the TSA.
“We must also never forget the alleged diversion of 2.1 billion dollars earmarked for arms purchase by officials of the immediate-past administration.”
He said as the pace of politics gradually picks up ahead of 2019, it is important that Nigerians know the enormous progress that the Buhari Administration has made in just a little over two years, and to also remind them of where the country was dumped by the PDP when the administration came on board on 29 May, 2015.
The minister said, “They recently alleged that our Administration plans to arrest 50 of their members for alleged corruption. Really? Are there still up to 50 people in the tottering PDP? Seriously, the guilty are afraid.”
