The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday observed that the revelation that the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, dodged his compulsory one-year national service, further validates its position that President Muhammadu Buhari has many persons of questionable character in his cabinet.
The party opined that President Buhari, in appointing fraudulent persons to hold key offices in his government, has shown that he has a weighty integrity burden, contrary to the ‘Mr. Clean’ posturing which his handlers had always wanted Nigerians to believe.
In a statement issued in Abuja by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary, the PDP insisted that President Buhari has the moral burden of explaining what gains he derives from appointing fraudulent characters into very sensitive positions, “a development that questions his integrity as a leader.”
It said President Buhari should provide an answer to allegations that such individuals are being used as henchmen to fritter away trillions of naira from the nation’s treasury to service All Progressives Congress (APC) interests and the Presidency cabal
The main opposition party added: “Nigerians know how President Buhari refused to sack, let alone prosecute the disgraced erstwhile minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, despite her culpability in certificate forgery and how the agents of the Federal Government escorted her out of the country to prevent her from opening up on the humongous corruption in the Buhari Presidency.
“Mr President has also not declared why he has refused to sack or prosecute his Special Assistant on Prosecution and Chairman of the Special Investigative Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, despite a declaration by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) that he parades a fake certificate.
“This is in addition to official cover which the Buhari Presidency provides for corrupt officials in various sectors, including the Petroleum Ministry, where over N10 trillion is alleged to have been stolen under fictitious contracts and sleazy oil subsidy deals as well as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), where indicted officials were reinstated by the Presidency.
“In fact, the effrontery with which Adebayo Shittu is trying to justify his crime against the nation speaks volume of the impunity in the Buhari administration.”
“The PDP is very sad that the corruption of the Buhari administration has continued to smear our nation in the international arena, leading to the current dearth in foreign direct investments and development partnership to our country,” the statement stated.
PDP charged the police to immediately charge Adebayo Shittu while telling President Buhari should note that Nigerians have lost confidence in his anti-corruption fight.
PDP, therefore, urged President Buhari to “prepare himself to accept defeat in the 2019 Presidential elections and quit the stage for a sincere, development-oriented President that will be elected on the platform of the PDP.”
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