The Peoples Democratic Party has demanded the arrest and immediate prosecution of the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, for allegedly using a non-existent national carrier to defraud the nation of N1.2bn.
The party also said President Muhammadu Buhari should speak out on what it called an act of corruption under his watch.
The main opposition party alleged that there were allegations that funds released for the project were diverted to finance his (Buhari’s) 2019 re-election bid.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, that the purported indefinite suspension of the Nigeria Air project was part of the alleged fraudulent script by the Buhari Presidency.
Ologbondiyan added that the Presidency ought to also know that “such lies” would not go far since he said the project did not exist in the first place.
He said, “The PDP had in July alerted the nation that the unveiling of a non-existent national carrier was a huge scam designed to create an impression of achievement, as well as a conduit by corrupt All Progressives Congress leaders and the Buhari Presidency to siphon public funds for selfish purposes.
“Nigerians now know that the reason for the rush to London to ‘unveil’ mere drawings of airplanes, name, logo and imaginary routes of a non-existent fleet as our national carrier, without any structures, operational license, clear partnership agreements and no form of ground activity anywhere in our country.
“What the APC and the Buhari Presidency fail to understand is that lies, no matter how ornamented, always have their expiry dates.
“The truth may be suppressed for a while, but it always has a way of coming to light.
“It is now clear to the world that the Buhari administration is corrupt and lacks the capacity to productively engage against acts of corruption.
“This is the major reason our economy went into a recession and foreign investors have lost confidence in our nation.”
Ologbondiyan demanded that the N1.2bn be immediately recovered and directed to critical interventions in the aviation sector, including the unpaid pension owed to retired aviation workers.
He also advised the APC and the Presidency to know that Nigerians could now see through “their corruption and lies, for which they will deal them a humiliating verdict at the polls, come 2019.”
Source: Punch
