The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the
PDP-led Federal Government of trying to suppress the audit report on the
missing $20 billion oil money, saying the deadline for the release of
the report, which was set by the government itself, has come and gone.
In a statement issued in Ilorin on Saturday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Minister of Finance
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala herself had said, at the Financial Times Africa
Summit 2014 in London in October, that the report would be ready in
November 2014.It quoted the Minister as saying at the Forum on Oct. 6, 2014: ”We engaged PwC (PriceWaterHouseCoopers) with the Auditor General of the Federation taking the lead. They asked for 16 weeks to complete the work; they have spent 11 or 12 weeks so far and they will be done in a couple of weeks.”
APC said adding the remaining four weeks for the conclusion of the report, as requested by the auditors, meant that it should have been ready by latest Nov. 7th 2014.
”It is now over a month since the deadline for the release of the
report expired, and the government has simply kept mum on the report,
apparently in an effort to sweep the issue under the carpet, as it has
done with all other reports of widespread corruption under the present
dispensation.
”However, Nigerians will not
allow this to happen. They will continue to demand that the audit report
be made public, in the interest of transparency. We also believe that
the Minister of Finance should strive to protect whatever is left of her
international reputation by living up to her words that the issue will
not be swept under the carpet. It is not only Nigerians but the entire
international community who are interested in the outcome of the audit.
”If there is any reason why the report has not been released, the
Minister should immediately come out and tell Nigerians. Otherwise, she
should release the report today so that Nigerians will know exactly how
much of their oil funds is missing and those to be held responsible for
the unprecedented heist,” the party said.
APC said it refuses to believe the stories making the rounds to the
effect that the FG is deliberately sitting on the report because it
(report) has heavily indicted it and some powerful personalities in the
Administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
”In announcing the forensic audit of the unaccounted for money, Mrs
Okonjo-Iweala said the President supported it and asked for it to be
done. Now that it has been done, why has the report not been released,
even if it implicates the government itself?” the party queried.
It said the urgent release of the report will also end the rumour
that the missing money is the source of the huge slush funds being used
for President Jonathan’s re-election, as well as the speculation that it
was the same missing money that formed the source of the huge funds
that were round-tripped to the Jonathan campaign fund during his recent
fund raising.
”Overall, a government that went cap in hand to borrow $1 billion
to better equip the military in its fight against Boko Haram should not
hesitate to get to the root of $20 billion missing oil money. Had that
money not indeed been missing as alleged, would the government have
needed to borrow $1 billion to pep up the Boko Haram war?
”We are therefore joining the millions of Nigerians who have
demanded the urgent release of the audit report. Failure to do so before
the end of the year will leave Nigerians with no choice than to
conclude that the FG is indeed hiding something about the missing $20
billion, a conclusion that will indeed be more than justified,” APC
said.