A minister in former President Goodluck
Jonathan’s administration stole $6 billion, Edo
State Governor Adams Oshiomhole said
yesterday, quoting United States (U.S.) officials.
Oshiohmole, in a chat with State House
correspondents shortly after meeting President
Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja, said: “The PDP (Peoples Democratic
Party) destroyed the country. I mean from the
lips of American officials; senior officials of the
State Department said one minister under PDP
cornered as much as $6 billion.
“The man said even by Washington standard,
that is earth-quaking.
“So, PDP is a party that presided over the
liquidation of our nation; destroyed all our
institutions; converted the Armed Forces
commanders to use them as if they were
political thugs; converted NTA to a party
megaphone; destroyed the SSS; went after
opposition as if we were rabbits to be pursued
into our holes; compromised even student
unions and destroyed everything that you can
think of; and elevated religion to a state affair.
“Under the party, Israel became a place you visit
every week; they placed pastors against Imams,
placed North against South, East against West
– just to retain power; elevated Obas and Obis
with dollars.
“You guys were reporting dollars that were
changing hands; when NNPC (Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation) was spending much
more money than was available to the
Federation Account.
“We are a very patient people. If we were not a
patient people, anybody wearing the tag of PDP
ought to feel very unsafe because you are all
victims – all of us here.
“Mr. Carson, who was the Assistant Secretary of
State, when we visited him in the company of
Senator Saraki, then as Chairman of the
Governors’ Forum – that was on the eve of
President Obama’s first visit to Africa – and we
went to complain, ‘why is Nigeria not on the
list?’
“What he said, for me, was quite instructive,
compared to what he said last week. Then I
was present when he said ‘you know, we who
see ourselves not just as friends of Nigeria, each
time we think there is light at the end of the
tunnel and it is time to encourage Nigeria to
build on it, you would wake up the following day
under President Jonathan to find out that even
the tunnel had been removed.
“Those were the words of Mr. Carson. Now, last
week, this same Carson chaired the President’s
address at the Institute of Peace and he said
‘we now have a man of enormous integrity; one
that has shown so much faith in the democratic
process; one that refused to be frustrated even
in the face of massively rigged elections. He
submitted to the judicial process and even when
that was compromised he never gave up.
“America has done its check and we are
convinced that this President is the one that
Nigeria needs at this time to regain its
leadership of the African continent.
“‘America now has a partner worthy of relations
because they believe that every dollar that
America provides to support Nigeria, whether in
the area of security, in the area of education or
encouraging American investors to invest in
Nigeria, there is an enabling environment
because what had been destroying the country
is corruption.”
He took a swipe at the PDP, saying the party
destroyed Nigeria.
Oshiomhole, who was a member of President
Muhammadu Buhari’s delegation to the United
States, was delighted that Nigeria now has a
President who talks with confidence unlike “a
President that is blabbing and is not sure of
what the issues are”.
He said he had decided not to bother about
anything the PDP says about the present
administration because he did not expect the
party to be praising a government that is doing
better than it did while in charge.
He said the PDP succeeded in supervising
Nigeria’s liquidation.
Oshiomhole claimed that under the PDP, there
was no law as the party’s members were a law
to themselves.
He claimed that Jonathan did not know what
the issues were and everybody was frustrated.
The Nation
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