The Presidency has advised Nigerians to be wary about what comes out from the opposition, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), so as not to be misled into voting for a party that sees nothing wrong with corruption.
Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, gave the advice when he reacted to allegations levelled against the Muhammadu Buhari administration by the PDP.
Shehu, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, said the PDP would rather have “everyone drenched in its colours, as they irretrievably are.’’
According to him, the PDP has continued spreading lies about the Buhari administration in the mistaken assumption that its toga of corruption will dissipate if it succeeded in black painting every other person as corrupt.
He said: “The strategy is to make corruption appear as normative and that everyone is equally involved. They think by so doing, Nigerians will forgive them for their sins. This is a huge mistake.
“The PDP has become an ill-wind on the country today and the elections next year present the citizens an excellent opportunity to save the country from it.
“We can’t imagine a sane organisation shamelessly telling Nigerians that President Buhari is looting, as they themselves did of the recovered loot, the $322 million lately recovered from the Abacha family. This is an irresponsible lie.’’
The media aide explained that the $322 million recovered was being used to make the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) of a monthly amount of N5,000 to more than 300,000 poor homes across the nation under the Social Investment Programme introduced by the Buhari administration.
He added that this was in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between the governments of Nigeria and Switzerland as a condition for releasing the funds.
According to Shehu, as part of the MoU, the World Bank is monitoring the application of the funds, noting that the Bank has equally given an additional facility to support the on-going cash transfers.
“Nigerians are hereby advised to be watchful of what comes out from the opposition, not to be misled into voting for a party that sees nothing wrong with corruption and would rather have everyone drenched in its colours, as they irretrievably are,’’ he said.
