The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday demanded the arrest and immediate prosecution of the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika for reportedly using a non-existent national carrier to defraud the nation to the tune of N1.2 billion
The party said the indefinite suspension of the Nigeria Air project was part of the fraudulent script by the Buhari Presidency, which knows that it cannot go far with the lie, since the project does not exist in the first place.
A statement by PDP’s spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, also challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to speak out on this act of corruption under his watch, particularly following allegations that funds released for the phantom project were diverted to finance his 2019 re-election bid.
The statement reads, “It would be recalled that the PDP had in July alerted the nation that
the unveiling of a non-existent national carrier was a huge scam designed to create an impression of achievement, as well as a conduit by corrupt All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders and the Buhari Presidency to siphon public funds for selfish purposes.
“Nigerians now know that the reason for the rush to London to ‘unveil’ mere drawings of airplanes, name, logo and imaginary routes of a non-existent fleet as our national carrier, without any structures, operational license, clear partnership agreements and no form of ground activity any where in our country.
“What the APC and the Buhari Presidency failed to understand is that lies, no matter how ornamented, always have their expiring dates. The truth may be suppressed for a while, but it always has a way of coming to light.
“It is now clear to the world that the Buhari administration is corrupt and lacks the capacity to productively engage against acts of corruption. This is the major reason our economy went into a recession and foreign investors have lost confidence in our nation.”
PDP “demands that the N1.2 billion be immediately recovered and directed to critical interventions in the aviation sector, including the unpaid pension owed to retired aviation workers.
The party counseled the “APC and Buhari Presidency to know that Nigerians can now see through their corruption and lies for which they will deal them a humiliating verdict at the polls, come 2019.”
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