Following a report of the Congress of the United States of America on mass corruption at all levels of the Nigerian government, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on Sunday described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the government it controls at the centre as a cesspool of corruption and asked them to cover their faces in shame.
In a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said what Nigerians have always believed has been confirmed from other lands.
“According to media reports today (Sunday April 21st), a new report submitted to the US Congress by Secretary of State John Kerry has confirmed mass corruption at all levels of the Nigerian government.
“Coming at a time that the PDP and Federal Government have been engaging in chest-beating over the fight against corruption, this is a body blow to this unserious and directionless party and the government it controls at the centre.
“They hinge their claim of fighting corruption on the establishment of the EFCC and the ICPC. What they have not told Nigerians is that these two bodies have been stifled by the same PDP and the Federal Government, to such an extent that no other party or government in the history of our nation has been more immersed in corruption.
“The unprecedented and monumental fuel subsidy fraud happened under the PDP and its central government. The mind-boggling pension fraud, the $6m Wilbros Scandal and the recurring electoral fraud that is the mother of all corruption, just to mention a few, all happened under this government.”
The party, which last week held its convention to merge with other parties for the formation of the All Peoples Congress (APC), expressed little surprise at the scathing portrayal of the country by the US report, saying that “for now,” the PDP and the Federal Government should “cover their faces in shame.”
But in a swift reaction late Sunday, which was released by the PDP National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh, the ruling party accused the opposition of being guilty of the same crime for which it was pointing fingers, and described as misplaced the perceived celebration of the ACN concerning the report.
Why is the ACN gallivanting? That only the PDP is corrupt and the opposition saints? What sense is there in this naked dance in the centre of the market square?” Metuh’s statement queried.
PDP argued that ACN had no qualification to raise accusations of corruption when its own national leader was wallowing in corruption.
“See who is pointing an accusing finger with all the sleaze going on in the states under the CAN, with the commonwealth of entire six states privatized to please the emperor at Bourdillon.
“A deeper insight reveals no doubt that all corrupt persons in the civil and public services are not members of the PDP, neither are all Nigerians in their private businesses members of PDP.
The world may know of corrupt cases in Nigeria because the PDP, as the ruling party, has chosen not to condone corruption like the opposition. We have shown enough dispassion in the crusade that even some of our members found wanting had to face the full weight of the law. Winning the war on corruption is therefore a matter for all Nigerians to do his or her own beat. The phenomenon of corruption predates the 14 years of the PDP but our party has taken bold steps to tackle it.
PDP further argued that “whether the ACN agrees or not, the establishment of the EFCC, ICPC and the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act are some of the firm measures in fight against corruption,” and that it would “continue the fight until the chaff of corruption is winnowed into the fire.”
