Joseph Bakare/Ijeoma Agudosi
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has explaination to give on how N5 trillion in oil and gas revenue was used.
Director of Media and Publicity, APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement issued in Abuja challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to explain why over N5 trillion in oil and gas revenue vanished under his supervision, through alleged fraud and embezzlement.
“This government must answer the questions posed by the different Committees and Task Forces that probed the Oil and Gas Sector between 2011 and 2012. By this, we mean the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Task Force Report, the Minister of Trade and Investment’s report on stolen crude; the House of Representatives fuel subsidy report coupled with the investigations into the ecological fund, SIM card registration and frequency band spectrum sale,” APCPCO said.
The campaign organisation recalled that a national newspaper had in its November 25, 2012 edition alerted Nigerians on how over N5 trillion oil money had been stolen under Jonathan’s tenure.
Bemoaning the shock that the nation’s economy was currently going through as a result of the free-fall of the oil pries, APC noted that waste and graft associated with the management of the oil and gas revenue had further compounded Nigeria’s economic predicament.
It noted that if the above scenario was frightening, what followed in the last two years had been worse and most flagrant.
“Industrial theft of oil surged from 250,000 to 400,000 barrels per day and remains unabated. The issue of corruption was also repackaged and lowered to the status of petty stealing. Worse still, innocent whistle-blowers were hounded out of office,” it stated.