NATIONAL Coordinator of ‘Move on Nigeria’, Honourable Clem Aguiyi, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomole, of deliberately misleading the public on issues surrounding the NLNG Fund.
Aguiyi vowed that his group, a socio- political and civic action group, supporting democracy and good governance, would continue to expose APC lies, no matter how many times such lies were repeated, because the public deserved to know the truth.
He warned that APC would soon lie its way into trouble with Nigerians, except it learnt to respect facts.
“Truth is sacred and no one can lie to the people all the time without being caught one day. The ‘Change’ we need now is for the ruling party to change from minting and spreading outright falsehood to saying the truth,” he said.
In a release issued to newsmen on Monday, in Abuja, Aguiyi said the truth which was verifiable, was that the NLNG had been on a 10-year tax haven until 2014. Within the period, successive governments, right from former president Olusegun Obasanjo down to former president Goodluck Jonathan neither shared nor tampered with the cumulative dividends.
“Whatever taxes paid from the NLNG go through the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and recorded as part of the income of the Federal Government.
“ It is imperative to note that by the end of the tenure of Jonathan, NLNG dividends had risen to cumulative $5.6 billion and not a single cent was ever taken from the funds in the entire six years of the Jonathan-led administration,” he said.
He challenged the ruling party to present contrary evidence that NLNG was not on tax holiday until 2014, any evidence that either of the regimes of Obasanjo or Yar’adua tampered or shared revenues accumulating from NLNG taxes or proof that the Jonathan-led administration removed a dime from $5.6 billion that accumulated during the life of the regime.
“It is rather unfortunate that our highly revered president is allowing himself to be drawn into such misinformation because he would have been properly briefed, assuming he has his economic advisers and cabinet in place as they would have rightly briefed him rather than exposing himself to mischief of some individuals, who are bent on distracting the public from probing into their own massive corruption.
“Imagine governors who spent public funds on lavish parties, borrowed beyond their capacities, squandered capital and security votes while also embezzling pensions fund and workers salary talking ignorantly of subjects they knew little or nothing about.
“While it is within the right of APC-led Federal Government to deplete the treasury without considerable thought as part of their Change agenda, Aguiyi said it was wicked and uncharitable for them to maliciously demonise and criminalise the former administration that saved and left the funds intact for ‘rainy day’ and for the attendant future investments and financial obligations of Nigeria in the NLNG project.
According to Aguiyi, “it is a long time since President Buhari first left office as military head of state, Nigeria and the world has transformed a lot since then and it is possible the man is confused of what foot to put forward , hence he needs good brains and good hands, instead of working alone and leading the nation to no where in particular.
“I will encourage APC to persuade the president to appoint his cabinet, so as to avail himself with expert advice on various issues” he quipped.
0 comments:
Post a Comment