By Ali Baba-Inuwa
The Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) Mr Osita Okechukwu has taken a swipe at the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for accusing the ruling party of stealing his idea to reform the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
While reacting to the unveiling of the NNPC Limited last Tuesday, the PDP Presidential standard bearer alleged that APC stole his idea to reform the state owned oil corporation to make it more profitable, transparent and efficient.
But in a statement on Thursday, Okechukwu, also a foundation member of the APC countered the former Vice President, wondering how on earth APC stole Atiku’s Idea when about 2 billion dollars Signatures Bonus and 1.5 billion dollars LNG Proceeds between 2004 and 2006, were allegedly stolen under his watch.
The VON boss lampooned Atiku for the sleaze that trailed the privatisation of state owned enterprises under his watch as the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation while he served as the nation’s number two citizen.
“Am one of those who going by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s testimonies on Atiku, his ambivalence on late Deborah’s imbroglio and his antecedents will not go to bank with his posturing statement.
“How come Atiku who failed to reform NNPC when he has the powers as chairman of National Economic Council and chairman of National Council Privatisation honestly come today to dissemble facts?”
“One challenges Atiku to refute the allegation of September 2009 Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, that 2 billion dollars Signatures Bonus and 1.5 billion dollars were neither reflected in the Federation Account nor 47.32 per cent due to States and local government councils disbursed to them.
“Thus, violently breached Section 162{3} of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, which states, “Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the Local Government Councils in such a manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly,” he said.
Okechukwu added:”One hopes that Atiku will not compel us to look into the less than transparent process which governed the privatisation of State Owned Enterprises when he was chairman of the National Council on Privatisation.
“The outcome of which is sordid result of gnashing of teeth where instead of coming to life the enterprises like Niger Dock, Electricity Distribution Companies et al are not the envisaged instrument of economic development, but poverty creation.”
According to Okechukwu, His Excellency Atiku Abubukar instead of commending the uncommon patriotism and political will of President Buhari to hands off the NNPC’s honeypot, is engrossed with Fake News and dissembling of facts.
He said that time has changed and Nigerians were very anxious of reality more than before.
Recall that Atiku had in his statement said:“I had in 2018 made public my plans to reform the NNPC to make it more profitable, transparent, and efficient. The APCled government denigrated me for my patriotic vision.
“But today, I am happy to note that the same government has taken a tentative step along the lines of the suggestions that I had made.”
Atiku added that, “I hope I’ll have the opportunity to complete the process of turning the NNPC into a genuinely world-class company in the mold of the NLNG, Aramco of Saudi Arabia, and Petrobras of Brazil, where Nigerians and institutions will invest
