PDP accuses Buhari of shielding corrupt family members

The PDP Presidential Campaign Organization has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of shielding corrupt relatives, saying the President lacks the integrity to seek re-election in 2019.

PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan made the accusation in a statement made on Thursday, December 27.

The PDP said President Buhari no longer has the moral standing to seek re-election until he directly answers its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

PDP in its statement asserted that the president has soiled his hands in the alleged corrupt acquisition of Etisalat Nigeria and Keystone Bank PLC, insisting that he (Buhari) should “perish the thought of going ahead with his re-election campaign without clearing this pertinent issue”.

The PDP through its Presidential Campaign Organization challenged President Buhari to explain how his “family members came about the sum of N1.032 trillion for this scandalous acquisition”.

“Nigerians are not interested in mere rhetoric or attempts by the Buhari Presidency to divert public attention from the issue at hand, but demand that President Buhari, who hitherto prides himself as Mr. Integrity, squarely addresses these grave issues in person,” the PDP said.

The party accused President Buhari and his family members of entangling themselves in corruption, saying, “Mr. President’s hands can no longer be said to be clean until he proves otherwise”.

It asked the president to put forth a denial on the disclosure by its candidate, saying that “President Buhari’s refusal to personally address this matter means consent”.

The PDP also alleged that relations of the President’s family have been hounding government agencies, major business concerns and intending foreign investors over kickbacks as well as “strangulating companies that refuse to accede to their demands”.

It also claimed that the Presidency muted the case of the Aide of the First Lady, Mr. Baba-Inna, who was arrested in September this year, over accusations of receiving N2.5 billion from politicians, businessmen, and women on behalf of the First Lady.

Reacting to the allegations of corruption by the PDP against the President Buhari, special assistant on media and publicity, Femi Adesina dismissed the claims saying they all lack evidence.

Adesina who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today described the allegations as “lies” and challenged the PDP to produce evidence of its accusations.

He said, “Did they give you any evidence? And I’m sure you as a journalist would know that the allegation is not even worth the paper on which it is written if it is written at all.

“They just conjecture what they can’t prove”.

When asked if the integrity of the President is being put to a test, the presidential spokesperson said, “I disagree with that”.

“The integrity is not tested at all. Wild allegations do not test integrity,” he said.