Prosecute Bala-Usman For Looting NPA – PDP Insists
Says EFCC must also investigate Amaechi for laxity
BY VICTOR BUORO – The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the Federal Government must immediately prosecute the indicted and now sacked Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, over the alleged looting of over N165 billion under her watch in the agency.
The party said President Muhammadu Buhari should not just ‘ease out’ Bala Usman, but must go ahead to prosecute her over the alleged plundering of public funds.
According to the nation’s main opposition party, Bala-Usman must not be left off the hook given shocking revelations from the Auditor General office that also unearthed alleged stealing of unremitted deductions to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) amounting to about N3,667,750,470; $148,845,745.04; Euro 4,891,449.50; and £252,682.14.
In a statement signed by the Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP also insisted that it is incumbent on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately invite Bala Usman for questioning and formal prosecution over the alleged fraud, including the reported stealing of N15.18 billion through alleged shady Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects undertaken by the Authority.
The party also tasked the anti-graft agency on extending its searchlight towards the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, under whose ministerial watch the alleged looting was perpetrated in NPA.
Expressing surprised that it “took the minister a clear six years (2016 to 2021) to query the NPA Managing Director, over the looting of N165 billion unremitted operational surplus of the agency”, the PDP said the development “raises public apprehensions of an afterthought, which only came after indicting audit documents had already been exposed.”
The statement further maintained that; “The PDP, standing with Nigerians, will continue to closely monitor the actions of the Buhari administration and resist attempts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to sweep the matter under the carpet in the desperation to shield many of its leaders involved in the reckless looting in the NPA, particularly, finances relating to the 2019 elections sleaze funds.”