''It is unfair to say anyone that joined APC from PDP is a looter'' Lai Mohammed
Minister
of Information, Lai Mohammed, has reacted to speculations that the
party is shielding PDP members that decamped to APC before the 2015
general election.
Shortly after releasing the controversial
looters list which had mostly PDP members, the opposition party, PDP, in
a statement, alleged that some of its members such as Rotimi Amaechi
who decamped from PDP to APC and has been accused of looting the Rivers
state treasury to fund the APC presidential campaign in 2015, is being
shielded by the party.
In an interview with newsmen in Lagos,
the Minister said the allegation is baseless and that is is very unfair
to tag every PDP decampee to APC a looter. According to him, the
allegation against the decampees is not established.
''There is
a difference between allegations and established cases. All the cases I
have mentioned (alleged PDP looters) are already in court. You see, how
many times have people written that Lai Mohammed has billions of
dollars. But, these are allegations that are just ridiculous. I can
assure you that if there is any allegation against any member of this
government, this government will investigate it. It would be unfair to
say that everybody that joined APC from PDP is a looter; it would be
unfair. I am saying that, whether you are of ACN stock or PDP stock or
CPC stock and you are found to be corrupt, you will be investigated.
On why he released the controversial looters list, Lai Mohammed said
''We
were challenged to do so. Don’t forget that on their own, the PDP said
that they apologised to Nigerians for the way they ran Nigeria aground
and we said, yes, apology is accepted, but, please return the funds. One
of them challenged us to name those who had stolen money. I think
gradually, it is becoming fashionable when you remind PDP that they
brought us to this sorry path, they will say stop talking about what we
did, please, continue with your own. But, we cannot move. It is
important that Nigerians remember how we got here and the same people
who have made no atonement say that they want to come back in 2019 to
power. So, it is important for us to remind them. Let me tell you, this
government is not in any panic. We are so proud of our acheivements
that, in less than three years, I can stand up and say this is what we
have achieved in the area of insecurity, this is what we have achieved
in the economy, in the area of ease of doing business. There is no area
we have not made our mark. We lifted Nigeria from number 165 in the ease
of doing business to 145. It is not a mean feat. And we exited
recession at a time when the price of crude was low. We were in
recession when we implemented the diversification of the economy. It is
on record that, despite all these challenges that we have not retrenched
one person. So, why should we be afraid? Why should we panic? I don’t
see any reason why we should panic. I think it is the imagination of
people that the government is panicky. No.
The Minister said
although the courts has to decide if the alleged looters are guilty or
not, it is an established fact that many of those on the looters list
did deep their hands in the national treasury when they were in office
''That
is the business of the court. I am saying that on the 24th of February,
Secondus took N100 million in cash. The then National Financial
Secretary took N700 million. These are facts. They said name, and I said
these are the people that were reported to have stolen money. So, what
is prejudicial about it? Let them go and solve their matters in court,
but if you challenge us to name names, we will name names'' he said
''It is unfair to say anyone that joined APC from PDP is a looter'' Lai Mohammed
Wednesday, 4 April 2018
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