Fayose Dares Lai Mohammed To Name N1.34tn Thieves

Following a revelation by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed that 15 former governors and 55 powerful Nigerians stole the sum of N1.34 trillion from 2006 to 2013, the governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has challenged him to expose the said individuals or keep his mouth shut permanently.

Fayose, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the All Progressives Congress, APC-led government is “branding bogus figures about stolen money just to cover up their lack of solution to the country’s economic problems.”

The governor said the federal government has plunged the country’s economy into chaos within eight months in power, but rather than look for solutions to the problems facing Nigeria, it is doing everything possible to distract attentions of citizens.

Fayose said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is “turning governance to Nollywood, such that when one movie is about to end, they release another one.”

He further pointed out that, “As it appears that the $2.1 billion arms deal movie is getting to an end, Lai Mohammed introduced another movie titled; N1.34 trillion loot.

“Unfortunately for them this time around, Nigerians have become tired of watching the Federal Government movies, they now want reality. Nigerians are now aware of the scam in the $2.1 billion arms deal movie having seen that the amount those already charged to court were charged with is not more than N10 billion and $2.1 billion is over N600 billion.

“Therefore, Lai Mohammed must either tell Nigerians details of the 15 former governors and 55 people that he claimed stole N1.34 trillion, where the stolen money is kept and bring back the money or apologise to Nigerians for lying.”

The governor of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, described the claims by the federal government that the PDP destroyed Nigeria for 16 years as hypocritical.

“Majority of those who ran the Federal Government between 1999 and 2003 under the PDP are in the APC government today. President, vice president, ministers, governors, senators and House of Reps members who were part of the PDP government are now in APC. Yet, APC keeps telling Nigerians that PDP ruined the country. This hypocrisy must stop,” Fayose said.

He also described handcuffing of PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh to court as disgraceful.

According to him, “Even the masterminds of Mandala and Nyanya bomb blasts, Kabiru Sokoto and Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche were not handcuffed when they were arraigned in court.”

He said due process of the law must be followed in fighting corruption.