All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) has demanded the release of the forensic audit on the missing $20 billion oil money.
NewsWireNGR recalls that only days ago, the APC had accued Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of attempts to cover up corruption at the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission for refusal to release the report.
But Gen. Buhari, in a statement said the report must be released “in the spirit of the war against corruption.”
The APC presidential standard-bearer accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of “digging graves in search of rumours” to confuse the voters.
The statement, signed by the Director of Communications of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Dele Alake, reads: “There is a clear linkage between the billions of Naira lost to corruption and the poor living conditions of our people: it is the resources meant for the development of our people that are diverted to service the greed of a few. It is the fear of the unknown in a country where both family and government social welfare have collapsed that fuels the avarice of those in offices to steal for generations unborn.
It is indeed true that, by sheer force of personal examples, I and my running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that it is possible to live above the greed that dominates the system.
“I believe our spiritual anchors as men who fear The Almighty and are resolved to live our lives according to His admonitions have played very critical roles in developing our capacity to lead. As Christians go and return from churches, as Muslims and men of other faiths observe their spiritual obligations, we believe our individual commitments to serve our Creator will inspire us to shun corruption.
“We say this fully conscious of the need to strengthen these spiritual values by creating a system that cares for the poor and the downtrodden; a system that gives jobs to the unemployed; provides electricity so that the artisans and the middle class can be productive and expands infrastructure to enable the corporate sector reduce cost of operations.
“The details of the roadmap to prosperity has been powerfully articulated in the manifesto of our party, the All Progressives Congress. We have signed this manifesto to commit ourselves to faithfully execute it as our contract with the people of Nigeria.
“Let us reiterate that we have already declared war against corruption, resolved to achieve food security, provide accelerated power supply, integrate the country’s transport network, promote free education and provide affordable health care service.
“What we bring to the table is not just these ideas. What we offer Nigerians is that we shall, day and night, 24 hours per day, seven days a week, stake our intergrity as men of discipline and transparency to make life better for the average Nigerian by executing these policies in the shortest possible time.
“What we bring to the table is an unblemished record of patriotism to our country and an enviable standard of hardwork and fulfillment of pledges that we have not seen in the handling of our national affairs in the last few years.
“In the spirit of the war against corruption, we demand the release of the Audit Report of the Missing 20 billion dollars.
“Clearly unable to oppose us with an equally clean and unassailable ticket, we can understand why our opponents are running from pillar to post, digging graves in search of rumours in the impossible hope of misinforming unsuspecting voters and spinning a web of blackmail and deceit.
“In this electoral contest of vision and moral stature, only the guilty needs to be afraid. Luckily, our lives are like the open book. We challenge our opponents to stake their desire to lead Nigeria again on what they have achieved with the billions of resources they received. This is not the time for distractions and red herrings. Nigerians are the ultimate judge of stewardship. They will deliver their verdict, loud and clear to the world on February 14, 2015.”
