President Muhammadu Buhari

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has called on patriotic and selfless Nigerians to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign to fast track national development.

The organisation made the appeal in a statement jointly issued by its Chairman and Secretary, Messrs Niyi Akinsiju and Cassidy Madueke, respectively, on Saturday in Abuja.

They expressed shock over the revelation of $2 trillion looted funds recovered in the last 18 years in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, on July 17 reiterated the resolve of the House not to continue to look on as confusion trails the recovery of looted funds and assets estimated at $2 trillion.

Dogara underscored the need to ascertain the status of recovered public funds and assets from 1999 to date.

He said: “It is common knowledge that there are a lot of conflicting reports and claims from various agencies of government concerning the status of the funds and assets recovered from some citizens and corporate entities by law enforcement agencies.

“As a Parliament, we cannot fold our arms and allow the confusion trailing the whereabouts of the recovered funds and assets to continue.

“This is why the House of Representatives resolved to mandate this Joint Committee to investigate the issue in the interest of accountability and transparency.”

Reacting to this development from the legislature via the statement, the group noted that the revelation of the $2trillion looted funds recovered in the last 18 years was cause for serious concern.

The organisation stated that what was more worrisome was the apathy of Nigerians to the revelation.

“It is surprising that this information has not evoked widespread condemnation from the citizenry considering the huge amount involved.

“It is on record that Nigeria has never budgeted up to USD100 Billion since the return to democracy, and here we are today discovering that few people looted more than USD2 Trillion in this country.

“And this is a country that has serious infrastructure deficit, where there is not enough supply of Electricity to power Manufacturing Industries and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise since 1999.

“Our citizens are killed on daily basis because the roads motorists ply are not fixed for many years; some since the colonial time.
“The Education Sector is no better, with the higher institutions churning out graduates that are mostly unemployable,’’ they said.

The group noted that these were direct consequences of the unprecedented looting that happened in the last 18 years, 16 of which were superintended by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to the organisation, if this does not offend Nigerians to condemn the leadership of the PDP, then there may not be hope for the future generations.