Groups fault PDP over alleged recovery of N1.85b from Buratai

National Democratic Front (NDF), yesterday, faulted the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over claim that N1.85 billion was recovered at a property in Abuja belonging to Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Benin Republic and former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Tukur Buratai.

NDF Secretary-General, Dr. Bolaji Abdulkadir, in a statement in Abuja, maintained that the accusation was part of a deliberate plot by PDP to undermine the chances of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general elections.

The group contended that PDP’s resort to the use of fake news underlines the fact that it is afraid of APC at the polls.

It wondered why PDP went to town with Buratai’s name, even after the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) made clear it had already apprehended the Managing Director of K Salam Construction Company Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kabiru Salau.

The statement reads in part: “The anti-graft agency had further clarified the cash and assets it recovered from the said property amounted to N267.43 million and not N1.85 billion, which leaves one wondering if the PDP is in touch with reality or rather absorbed in believing the fake news it is attempting to feed Nigerians.

“It is apparent the so-called opposition party has lost essence and sense of direction and only now feeds on fake news to justify its existence.

“While it attempted to paint the outstanding former COAS as a corrupt person, PDP’s tenuous attempt to string together unrelated variables and create a nexus to the 2023 general elections shows that the party fears the trouncing awaiting it at the polls; hence the unreasonable fear that has left it grasping at straws in a bid to assemble the excuses it would give for being rejected by Nigerians yet again.”

SIMILARLY, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), in a statement by National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said: “The opposition PDP took opposition too far by accusing Buratai of corruption out of the discovery of ICPC in Abuja.

“HURIWA wonders how a party that wants to win power is behind the spread of fake news, seeking to rope Buratai in a crime scene he knows nothing about and for which there are no contrary findings to the official statement by ICPC.”

“PDP’s anger is that Buratai retired and enlisted into APC, and is campaigning vigorously for APC to win the presidential poll. So, PDP is trying to pull him down for political reasons. But HURIWA knows that truth and justice will prevail. We also urge members of the public to disregard the fake news.”