A chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has taken a swipe at the probe of some prominent members of the party by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government.
Iwuanyanwu, who once contested for the Chairmanship of PDP, in an interview with The Sun, said the APC was merely playing to the emotions of the masses with the probe and trial bordering on an alleged mismanagement of $2.1 billion meant for arms procurement.
When he was asked about an alleged diversion of funds meant for arm purchase into PDP Presidential campaign funds, he said:
Well, you know that this government came to power under the mantra of change and anti-corruption. So, they were just playing to the emotions of the country, just playing to the gallery. The moment you tell a poor man that you are going to bring a big man down, he is very happy and expectant. So, it is natural, pulling down syndrome is what they are catching on, they know the mood of the nation. Because as far as I am concerned, yes the PDP has clearly stated its position, we are totally for the anti-corruption drive of the government, but it mustn’t be politicized, it mustn’t be vindictive, it mustn’t be selective. It must be holistic and the first question I am asking is, when did it start? Did corruption start with Jonathan, or did it start even with PDP in 1999? What about the whole lot of things that were done under military regimes. So, the question is, where do we begin, and why do you begin, where you are beginning? That’s number one.
The other one is that there are certain elements that are coming out now that are very dangerous to this nation. In the history of this country, security votes as the name connotes, can be used to advance any cause for the stability of this country, stability of government.
So, any government has a right to apply it to create stability.
Never in the history of this country has security votes been probed.
Why are we probing the security votes?