Nigeria: NPA, others now ATMs for APC, says PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has called for the sack of Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and embattled Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman.

It said this in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.

The party said, “The foul stench of corruption oozing out of the NPA, NDDC and other agencies of government in the last six years has shown that our MDAs have become the cash cows and Automated Teller Machines of greedy leaders of the All Progressives Congress and their cronies in government in their unbridled looting of our patrimony under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch.”

The statement added, “The Peoples Democratic Party demands the immediate sack, investigation and prosecution of Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, as well as the suspended Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala-Usman, over exposed looting of over N165bn in the agency"

“The party also asks the transport minister to come clean on his reported connection in the alleged involvement of his wife, Mrs Edith Amaechi, in the exposed N48bn contract scam currently rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission."

“Our party asserts that the fact that it took the minister a clear six years (2016 to 2021) to query the NPA Managing Director over the alleged looting of N165bn unremitted operating surpluses of the agency, which is under his purview, is suspect and raises public belief that he (Amaechi) only acted apparently to shied himself after indicting audit documents had already been exposed."

“This is in addition to reports from the Office of the Auditor General which also unearthed the looting of unremitted deduction to Federal Inland Revenue Service amounting to N3,667,750,470; $148,845,745.04; Euro 4,891,449.50 and £252.682.14 under the suspended NPA managing director and Amaechi’s ministerial supervision.

“The audit report also exposed another N15.18bn allegedly siphoned through shady Corporate Social Responsibility projects by the NPA, an agency under Amaechi’s ministerial purview."

“The PDP therefore rejects the obvious attempt at a cover-up in the recourse to an Administrative Panel of Enquiry recommended by the transport minister to investigate the NPA fraud, in which he also has some questions to answer.”

Continuing, it said, “Our party insists that both the minister and the indicted NPA Managing Director should be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for investigation and possible prosecution.

“Moreover, Nigerians are appalled that fingers of fraud allegation are also pointing to the wife of the transport minister in a N48bn contract scam under the sacked NDDC’s Managing Director, Nelson Bambraifa, who was reportedly nominated into that position by the Minister of Transportation, Amaechi, but fired on allegations of corruption."

“The PDP describes as unpardonable that the humongous sum in the NDDC contract scam involving the wife of the transport minister was allegedly siphoned under the guise of offering training to unsuspecting youths in the area.

“It is indeed disgraceful that under the APC that promised to fight and end corruption in our country, the public space is awash with revelations of sharing of government revenues among concubines, wives, girlfriends and family members of top APC leaders.”

Ologbondiyan added that what had happened in NPA could only happen under the watch of an absentee president, who condones corruption.