OBJ, IBB should return stolen funds – CNPP

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has declared that for activate community involvement in solving insecurity in the country to be achieved; the duo of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida should

return the billions of United States dollars stolen under their watch.

This was even as the CNPP described the joint statement on the state of insecurity in Nigeria by the two former leaders as noble, patriotic and clearly the passionate concern of elder statesmen which must be matched with action.

In a statement issued by its national Publicity Secretary Mr. Osita Okechukwu, the conference of opposition parties in Nigeria, noted that if the billions of US dollars siphoned during the Gulf War Oil Windfall under General Babangida’s watch and billions of dollars fleeced off under General Obasanjo’s watch are returned to the federation account, it would be enough to fully engage millions of unemployed youths.

 

   

According to Okechukwu, “It is indisputable that the monies stolen under the two regimes are more than enough to complete the Mambilla Hydro-Power Plant, Kano-Lagos and Maiduguri-Port Harcourt Modern Rail- lines and two Refineries of 500.000 barrels per day capacity.

“This could have stimulated employment and kept the Boko Haram insurgents, kidnappers and other scoundrels busy. This is real community involvement.

“Regrettably, we recall the inaugural speech of General Obasanjo on 29 May 1999 when he proclaimed inter alia, ‘Corruption, the greatest single bane of our society today, will be tackled head-on at all levels. Corruption is incipient in all human societies and in most human activities, but this must not be condoned,’ he further said.

The CNPP said that it is hypocrisy on the part of the two leaders who with their cronies looted the monies which could have changed the face of the country and turned round the decayed social services, dilapidated infrastructure and gross unemployment to mount moral high ground and pontificate.

Okechukwu further said, “When Dele Giwa cried out over the monumental corruption going on under General Babaginda, what happened? When Odi inhabitants cried out over their deprivation and inhuman treatment under General Obasanjo, what happened?”

The CNPP also said that it is still fresh in the minds of Nigerians how Obasanjo rebuffed the entreaties of the Swiss government to include other looters of Nigeria’s commonwealth in his request for General Sani Abacha’s looted fund.