Wasted $16bn: “Punish The Past Government” – Oshiomhole Urges Buhari

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to make it a point of “duty to man and to God” to prosecute those who wasted $16billion on electricity.

Oshiomhole urged Buhari to probe the controversial $16billion power fund “wasted” on the power sector by the administration of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Speaking during the APC Presidential campaign rally in Warri, Delta State, on Thursday, the former Edo State governor also insisted that the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar was not fit to rule Nigeria.

Oshiomhole urged Buhari to “ensure that he follows through till he gets answers to how the $16billion appropriated by the previous PDP administration was spent and ensure that everyone involved in the mismanagement is punished.

“Uduaghan, you will recall as Governor of Delta State, despite the fact that you were a PDP Governor and I was in ACN as Governor, when PDP decided to sell BEDCO which covers Delta, Edo, Ondo and Ekiti states, we agreed that if PDP does the privatisation in the manner they wanted to do it, the economy of the South-South would be destroyed.

“We spoke loud at the National Economic Council. We told Jonathan ‘don’t do it’. We told PDP not to deceive the people but they went ahead. Uduaghan and I held a press conference at my private residence in Benin. We warned that this DISCO, which is owned by a family, will destroy the economy of our states.

“Today, are you not having power crisis in Delta State? Even in Edo State, the Governor is fighting every day. They took $16billion in the name of power supply. They took the money and put it in their pockets and Nigeria remains in the dark. They signed agreement of 20 years, which is difficult to revive.

“But, Mr President, in your second term, I urge you with respect sir; you must fulfill the question which we have asked. After $16billion, you will ask, where is the light? Mr. President, you have a duty to man and to God, to ensure that that question must be answered. It must be answered judiciously. It must be answered in the court of law and what people are entitled to know.”

On Atiku’s candidature, he said: “Yesterday I was watching the television and I saw PDP presidential candidate and a former customs officer (Atiku). He was saying in the likely event that Nigerians make the mistake of their lives to vote for him (Atiku) as President, whether they like it or not, even if he would die, that he will sell the oil reserves of Delta, Akwa Ibom, Edo states and that he would auction all oil properties of Nigeria, whether they [Nigerians] like it or not.

“If somebody puts you on notice that if you vote for him that he is going to sell your family, will you agree? Will you vote for him? When Atiku was the Vice-President, I was the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress. When they wanted to sell Nigeria Airways, when we told him ‘no’, he [Atiku] said he doesn’t care. He just wanted to sell Nigeria Airways.”