Tinubu: $1bn loan to fight Boko Haram dubious

Monday, July 21, 2014 4:01 pm

Former governor of Lagos State and a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has described as dubious the plan by President Goodluck Jonathan to borrow $1 billion to prosecute the Boko Haram war.

In a statement issued in Lagos, Tinubu said the proposal will only serve to camouflage a sinister objective, and accused Jonathan of planning to convert the loan into a war chest for the Peoples Democratic Party in the coming election.

“In cloaking the request as part of the battle against terror, he believes no one will have the courage to object and this will enable him to get away with what should not be gotten away. He is not asking for help in tackling terror. He is asking us to turn a blind eye and empty mind to an abject heist. This is as cynical a measure as a national leader has ever undertaken during the time of national calamity. He demeans his office and the nation in this time of crisis. Of all things, he now subordinates the gravest national threat we have faced in four decades to his desire to hold to office.

Bola Tinubu

“This man has been commander-in-chief for over three years. Where has he been? He has been ensconced in the cozy, safe confines of Aso Villa, giving less than a care about the ravaging of northern Nigeria. It was only upon hiring a foreign PR firm did he begin to act as if Boko Haram and the Chibok crisis exist.”

Tinubu wondered why Jonathan was seeking the loan when Nigeria ‘has the money’, stashed away in excess crude account and Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Hammering his point home, Tinubu insisted that the money was meant to buy the votes of the Nigerian people.

“In reality, this loan will be used to buy the election and pay for the intimidation of the opposition and electorate. Most of it will go into the PDP coffers. The portion which finds its way to the armed forces and security agencies will be to purchase their services in suppressing all who are not PDP. The loan will not be to fight terrorism. It will be to fight the legitimate dissent.”

He asked the National Assembly to reject the president’s request as he charged that Jonathan was only seeking the money to “build a casket for democracy.”