The People’s Democratic Party has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prosecute Hadiza Bala-Usman whose appointment as the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority just got terminated.
The party, which made the call “over exposed looting of the N165 billion in the agency”, also urged the anti-graft agency to probe the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, “under whose ministerial watch the alleged looting in NPA was perpetrated.”
The PDP made this known in a statement signed by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Thursday.
It “insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari should not just ‘ease-out’ Bala-Usman, but must go-ahead to prosecute her over the alleged looting including revelations from the office of the Auditor General, which also unearthed the alleged stealing of unremitted deductions to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) amounting to N3,667,750,470. $148,845,745.04, €4,891,449.50 and £252,682.14 during her watch at NPA.
“The PDP charges the EFCC to immediately take in Bala Usman for questioning and prosecution over the alleged fraud, including the reported stealing of N15.18 billion through alleged shady Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects by the NPA.
“The PDP restates that the fact that it took the minister a clear six years (2016 to 2021) to query the NPA Managing Director, over looting of N165 billion unremitted operational surplus of the agency, raises public apprehensions of an afterthought, which only came after indicting audit documents had already been exposed.
“The PDP, standing with Nigerians, will continue to closely monitor the actions of the President Buhari administration and resist attempts by the APC to sweep the matter under the carpet in the desperation to shield many of its leaders involved in the reckless looting in the NPA, particularly, finances relating to the 2019 elections sleaze funds.”
