The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has said the emergence of All Progressives Congress candidates for the forthcoming governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states has made mockery of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-corruption crusade and shown the party survives on corruption.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, on Monday, the PDP said “it is a mockery of strategy that the APC which has been touting the fight against corruption as its major policy, would present to the people of Bayelsa and Kogi states candidates whose public questionable credentials are further evidenced in the charges brought against them by anti-graft agencies.”
The PDP further described as a shameful irony and display of crass hypocrisy, the fact that a ruling party that prides itself as an anti-corruption crusader, will field candidates facing corruption charges, saying such has further exposed the insincerity of the APC.
Metuh said: “In Kogi, we have the APC brazenly fielding, for the November 21 governorship election, Prince Abubakar Audu, a former governor of the state that was allegedly declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged corruption, and who is now facing charges, before the court, of breach of trust, embezzling and misappropriating the sum of N10.9 billion meant for development of his state.
“In the same vein, in Bayelsa State, the APC is fielding, for the December 5 election, Chief Timipre Sylva, also a former governor of the state, who, similarly, is allegedly before the court on charges of embezzlement of a staggering sum of N19.2 billion belonging to Bayelsa State. This APC candidate in Bayelsa is being charged by the EFCC for embezzling funds meant for state workers for a period of four years, ‘under false pretence’ of using the funds to augment their salaries.”
The opposition PDP raised some posers:“Now that the APC is brazenly fielding candidates with questions of corruption, we ask: do they in all honesty expect Nigerians to take them seriously on their much-hyped anti-corruption crusade? Does the APC expect the people of Kogi and Bayelsa states to be fooled into voting for the same individuals who are facing charges of looting funds meant for development of their respective states?”
According to PDP, “the controversies trailing the primaries conducted by the so-called APC’s best hands, to produce these candidates further foreground the corruption prevalent in the party, which has also manifested in the presence of some persons with debatable reputations in the 21-man list of ministerial nominees forwarded to the Senate for clearance.
“Evidently, the APC has clearly established itself as a party enmeshed and thriving in corruption, even as it tries to hoodwink the public into believing that it is on a mission to fight graft in the country, a contradiction we urge all Nigerians to take copious note of.”
The statement said: “It has therefore become manifest that this administration’s anti-corruption agenda is dead on arrival and only applicable as a tool for witch-hunt against the PDP and those holding views divergent to those of the government. Consequently, this is an open invitation by the APC to corrupt persons to join them as a party that accommodates, protects and promotes corruption in the country.
“Our joy remains that the people of Kogi and Bayelsa states will definitely reject this attempt to use immunity to cloak and protect friends and associates of the ruling party and government from further prosecution.”