PDP Demands Adeosun’s Sack, Arraignment for Alleged Forgery

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack, arrest, and arraign his Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, for alleged criminal forgery of her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate. PDP said Buhari should not cover up Adeosun, as it had done in previous corruption cases involving close allies or agents of the administration.

In a statement issued by PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said the revelation of forgery in the minister’s NYSC certificate vindicated its stand that the Buhari presidency was a haven for fraudsters, common thieves and persons of questionable character. It added that the revelation had cast a shadow on the overall integrity of the Buhari administration.

Several calls to Adeosun’s cell phone and that of her personal assistant were neither taken nor returned. The minister and her aide also did not reply text messages from THISDAY.

PDP said in the statement, “The world can now see how the Buhari Presidency has been concealing sharp practices under it. We can now see why there is humongous corruption under President Buhari’s watch and why Mr. President has refused to take any concrete steps to check the sleazes in his administrations.

“Perhaps, such ‘artful dodgers’ were deliberately hired and placed in revenue related agencies to perfect the pilfering of our common patrimony for interests in the Buhari Presidency.”

PDP further challenged Buhari to prove himself a man of integrity by allowing an open and independent inquest into all alleged corrupt practices in his presidency.

PDP stated, “We challenge President Buhari to be bold to allow an open independent inquest into the exact figures amounting to the trillions of naira oil revenue earned by the nation in the last three years and how he had spent same with Mrs. Adeosun as minister of finance.

“Mr. President should also allow an open inquest into his handling, with Mrs Adeosun, of all our depleted foreign financial instruments, including the Excess Crude Account (ECA), from which funds were taken without recourse to the National Assembly.
“President Buhari should also allow an inquest into his administration’s borrowing of over N10 trillion in 30 months, with Mrs. Adeosun as Minister of Finance and the purposes for which the money was used.

“Furthermore, we challenge President Buhari to allow an inquest into the leaked memo at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) showing N9 trillion corrupt oil contracts as well as the alleged stealing of N1.1 trillion worth of crude oil, all in a sector under his direct purview as minister of Petroleum.

“We also demand for an open investigation into the N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) intervention fund and the N10 billion National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) alleged to have been stolen from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by APC officials and Presidency cabal.”

PDP urged Nigerians to note the colossal corruption under President Buhari’s watch and hold him directly responsible for all the calamities that had befallen the country in the last three years.