The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prove the strength of
its integrity by investigating and prosecuting the national leader of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over allegations of tax fraud.
The opposition party said Nigerians could now see
how the Ibrahim Magu-led EFCC, which rushes to pounce on, arrest and lock up innocent
Nigerians, particularly perceived political opponents of President Muhammadu
Buhari without investigation, had practically gone frozen and toothless because
a member of the APC cabal is involved.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr.
Kola Ologbondiyan, on Tuesday stressed that the failure of the EFCC to invite and question
Tinubu over an alleged N160 billion tax fraud by a company linked to him would
not only suggest that the EFCC has become corrupt under the Buhari presidency,
but also exposes the level of rot in the APC administration.
According to him, "Does it not smack of
hypocrisy that President Buhari, who boasted that he was going to jail more
looters, has been looking the other way, while presidency officials suppress
investigations since whistle blowers alerted that Alpha Beta, a company linked
with his party leader, Tinubu, allegedly swindled Nigerians to the tune of a
whopping N160 billion in tax fraud?”
The PDP noted that if President Buhari is as clean
as his handlers would want Nigerians to believe, and if the presidency is not complicit of
corruption, Buhari should allow an investigation and prosecution of Alpha Beta,
in an open court, just as his government has been harassing the members of
the opposition as well as perceived opponents.
The opposition insisted that President Buhari
cannot be approving the hounding of innocent opposition members or his
perceived enemies on allegations of corruption while at the same time always
shielding and defending his party members openly accused and indicted for
corruption, in addition to certificate forgers and National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) deserters holding top positions in his government.
It queried further that “is it not equally
hypocritical that under the same Buhari’s watch, the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS) has threatened to block the bank accounts of tax evaders, while a
leader of his party had been dragged before the EFCC, yet the president is
pretending to be unaware?”
Ologbodiyan noted: "Nigerians can recall that
when President Buhari declared that he will jail more looters, the PDP welcomed
him and challenged him to start with looters in the APC and the presidency, and
we insist that in line with the promise President Buhari made to Nigerians,
Alpha Beta should be charged accordingly.
"Finally, the president should note that
Nigerians are still waiting for his response regarding alleged stealing of N9
trillion at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under his watch;
the alleged N1.4 trillion oil subsidy fraud involving officials at the presidency;
the alleged diversion of N1.1 trillion worth of crude oil in 2017 by APC
interests; alleged stealing of N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)
funds; the alleged stealing of over N25 billion National Health Insurance Fund
(NHIS), which investigation was stalled by the presidency, among others for
which his presidency has practically turned into a citadel of iniquity and
corruption."
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