PDP Condemns FG’s Plan on $1bn fund to Fight Insurgency

By Olayinka Ajayi

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticized the plan by the Federal Government to spend $1billion from Nigeria’s excess crude account to tackle Boko Haram insurgency.

The Party condemned the plan on Friday, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.

“Nigerians would recall that the APC-led Federal Government had claimed that it has since defeated the insurgents,” the PDP said.

“If it would take a billion dollar from a nation’s savings to kill what they long claimed dead, then we challenge APC government come clean and tell Nigerians the whole truth.

“The era of lies and propaganda is long gone and Nigerians now know the truth. The Federal Government must be held accountable and stopped from any move to fritter away our national savings.”

This comes less than 24 hours after National Executive Council approved the withdrawal of $1billion from the account by the Federal Government to tackle terrorism.

The approval, however, sparked a debate about the government’s insistence that it has technically defeated Boko Haram.

Beyond criticising the plan, the PDP said it has rubbished the integrity of the current administration and demanded that it apologise to Nigerians “for lying to them about the actual state of the fight against insurgency in Nigeria”.

“We therefore call on the National Assembly to interrogate this proposed disbursement and subject it to a thorough but rapid interrogation,” the party said.

It added, “By accepting the $1bn for fighting insurgency, the APC-led Federal Government has admitted that it lied when it announced that it has defeated the insurgents. They should therefore apologize to Nigerians for giving them a false sense of security, resulting in their vulnerability to attacks by terrorists.”