The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday demanded for the immediate sack and prosecution of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the suspended Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman.
The call by the opposition party for a new approach to the crisis at the NPA came hours after Amaechi inaugurated the administrative panel he set up to probe Hadiza Bala-Usman.
Some analysts were of the opinion that an administrative panel will amount to a waste of time, insisting that even the composition leaves much to be desired.
The minority caucus in the House of Representatives agreed with this observation, saying the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) must do its work of unravelling financial malfeasance in government instead of allowing the political class to reduce a serious financial misconduct to the normal ritual of setting up a committee that will not lead to anywhere.
Amaechi, Hadiza must come out clean
The PDP in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the alleged looting of over N165 billion at the NPA must be thoroughly investigated by the EFCC which is saddled with such responsibility.
“The party also asks the transport minister to come clean on his reported connection in the alleged involvement of his wife, Mrs Edith Amaechi in the exposed N48 billion contract scam currently rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
“The foul stench of corruption oozing out of the NPA, NDDC and other agencies of government in the last six years has shown that our MDAs have become the cash cows and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of greedy leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their cronies in government in their unbridled looting of our patrimony under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch.
“Our party asserts that the fact that it took the minister a clear six years (2016 to 2021) to query the NPA managing director over the alleged looting of N165 billion unremitted operating surplus of the agency, which is under his purview, is suspect and raises public belief that he (Amaechi) only acted apparently to shied himself after indicting audit documents had already been exposed.
“This is in addition to reports from the office of Auditor General, which also unearthed the looting of unremitted deduction to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) amounting to N3,667,750,470; $148,845,745.04, Euro 4,891,449.50 and £252,682.14 under the suspended NPA Managing Director and Amaechi’s ministerial supervision,” the PDP said.
Minority caucus tells EFCC to join probe
On its part, the Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives called for the involvement of the Economic and other Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the investigation process.
In a statement signed by the House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, on Monday, the lawmakers insisted that a huge economic crime against the nation should not be left to an administrative panel of inquiry, but committed to an anti-graft agency like the EFCC for an independent investigation.
The lawmakers stated that they were concerned that the alleged NPA looting was committed to an administrative panel…
