“Our party holds that this particular attempt to cover corruption places a huge burden on the Buhari-led administration and we call on Mr. President to come clean on the handling of federal government’s funding on COVID-19.”
Nigeria’s major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari institute an independent public enquiry into the handling of monies released as COVID-19 intervention fund by the federal government.
The party, in its demands, asked Ms. Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, to give an account of how much was released to her, the specific purchases, with details of contractors; details of the distribution of palliatives and agents in all states; as well as details of bank withdrawals and beneficiaries of the N20, 000 cash claimed to have been disbursed.
PDP also disclosed that it has exposed designs by indicted federal government officials to use the invasion of CACOVID palliative warehouses to escape investigation into the reported stealing and criminal diversion of funds and palliatives provided by the federal government to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The party also alleged, what it described as scandalous, an attempt by Ms Farouq to create an impression that the CACOVID palliatives besieged in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest were the same federal government palliatives for which she is required to give account.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement said, “Our party wants to inform the minister that such infantile antics cannot sway Nigerians, as the public is already aware that CACOVID palliatives came from donations from well-meaning individuals and organisations, which is completely different from the N500 billion voted by the federal government, which has not been accounted for.
“If anything, this attempt by the minister to muddle-up issues and confuse Nigerians only goes to validate allegations of stealing and diversion of funds and palliatives provided by the federal government and placed under her purview.
“Of course, the CACOVID palliatives have nothing to do with the alleged stealing and diversion of funds in the cash disbursement of N20, 000 to undocumented beneficiaries leading to a widespread outcry by Nigerians that bulk of the money may have been diverted.”
The main opposition party said the minister has not explained the reason for the obvious breach of statutory public finance report system and appropriate documentation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), leading to the alleged diversion of funds to private purses.
The PDP also insisted that the CACOVID palliatives have nothing to do with the billions of naira claimed to have been spent on school feeding at a time the schools were shut and schoolchildren were in their homes in different locations across the country.
According to the party, “It is revealing to state that our party had earlier gotten winds of allegations in the public space that some indicted federal officials compromised arrangements at CACOVID warehouses to trigger an invasion by agitating Nigerians, as a decoy to frustrate the investigation into the alleged stealing and diversion of federal government palliatives by government officials.
“Our party holds that this particular attempt to cover corruption places a huge burden on the Buhari-led administration and we call on Mr. President to come clean on the handling of federal government’s funding on COVID-19.”
The party expressed its support for calls by Nigerians that Buhari immediately orders an open and independent public enquiry into the handling of the funds released by the federal government as COVID-19 intervention fund.
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