APC to PDP: We can’t squander $1bn like you did to $2bn 

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has discribed as baseless and ridiculous, the allegation by the People Democratic Party (PDP) that the ruling party was planing to use the approved $1 billion fund to prosecute its party’s presidential activities, ahead of 2019.

The APC, however, said unlike the PDP that allegedly squandered $2Bn similar approval in excess while in government, the ruling party has as fundamental “the twin principle of accountability and probity.”

In a statement signed Monday in Abuja by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, it described PDP allegations as a case of “a serial killer who sees even a table knife as a murder weapon.”

“However, we can understand why it is easy for PDP to arrive at its ludicrous allegation. A similar approval in excess of $2 Billion was granted to the PDP government when they were in power. They knew what they did with the money. It is a classic case of a serial killer who sees even a table knife as a murder weapon.

“The PDP presided over a government that made it possible for money meant for weapons to be diverted into paying marabouts and all manner of political jobbers ahead of the 2015 election. Therefore, the PDP thinks the same thing is about to happen. They have not realised that it is a new day and President Muhammadu Buhari will not play politics with money meant to protect the lives of innocent Nigerians or allow anyone to engage in such brigandage that Nigerians suffered under the PDP.

“We conclude by saying that we understand the pressure that the PDP is facing to justify its role as an opposition party, but they need to be reminded that opposition is not the same as opposing everything, including those things that are critical to national interest. We welcome PDP to play its part in ensuring that the money or any public money at all is used for the purpose for which it is intended. In this case, they can simply ensure that their eleven governors demand accountability for the money that they have joined in approving.

“The twin principle of accountability and probity are fundamental to APC. If the PDP in their latest reincarnation now consider these principles important, we are happy for them and we welcome them.

“It appears however that PDP’s interpretation of its role is to oppose everything even before they had the opportunity to understand it. They have remained embittered over what they thought APC did to them as an opposition party and are therefore seized by an obsession to revenge. In essence, they are primarily driven by vendetta rather than considered national interest.”

The ruling party said the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) that granted the approval has eleven (11) PDP Governors as its members in the meeting, wondering “how the Governors who are not members of our party would support the decision to approve funds that was ostensibly meant to fund another Party. In essence, the PDP is by this allegation accusing their Governors of disloyalty or suggesting that they were bewitched into supporting the decision. It is that ridiculous!”

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