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Tag: Lai Mohammed

  • I owe my appointment to Buhari, not Saraki – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says he owes his appointment as minister to President Muhammadu Buhari and no one else.

    In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja, the minister said it was “laughable’’ that anyone would seek to take credit for his appointment.

    Mohammed was reacting to a statement by Dr. Doyin Okupe the Special Adviser (Media) to the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, in which he gave credit to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki for the minister’s appointment.

    The minister said that the entire statement by Okupe, “is nothing but fiction writing, for which he deserves a hall of infamy award (in the fiction writing segment).

    “Not one of the claims he made in his statement is true.’’

    Mohammed challenged Okupe to make available to Nigerians any evidence he might have to support his assertion that the President sought the permission of Saraki to appoint him as minister.

    “We understand that Dr. Okupe’s cheap attempt at mud-throwing is nothing but a proxy fight, rooted deeply in the politics of Kwara State.

    Read Also: Game up for Saraki in Kwara-Lai Mohammed

    “We are aware that Okupe’s boss is feeling the heat emanating from the `O To Ge’ (enough is enough) movement in Kwara.

    “And that even the strongest of men will become disoriented and disillusioned at losing the support of a people who once venerated them to high heavens.

    “But that is a self-inflicted wound for which Okupe’s boss, an acclaimed slave master, has no one but himself to blame,’’ Mohammed said.

    The minister said he was very proud to lead the ‘O To Ge’ movement that is set to finally bring down the Berlin Wall of political hegemony in Kwara State and send Okupe’s boss into political oblivion.

    He said the movement will also free Okupe himself from merely being his master’s voice, so he can fully devote his time to his new-found pastime – fiction writing.

    NAN

  • Postponement: PDP urges Nigerians to remain firm

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has urged Nigerians to remain firm and not to buckle before anti-democratic forces as a result of the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections nationwide.

    At a media briefing in Abuja Saturday, the main opposition party expressed shock at the last minute decision to postpone the polls.

    Spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, who address newsmen, said the vehemently rejected the sudden postponement of the February 16 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a few hours before the commencement of polls.

    According to the PDP, the decision taken by INEC was a grand plot to give the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Buhari Presidency the space to perfect their rigging plans, which have been resisted by Nigerians to this point.

    The party spokesman said the PDP was fully prepared for the polls, with its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, having worked very hard in readiness for the election.

    Ologbondiyan said, “Our members and supporters, in their millions and generality of Nigerians that are eager to participate in the democratic process had already moved close to their polling units in readiness to vote and to defend their votes.

    “In some cases, Nigerians were already at their polling units in orderly queue in the hope to vote out the incompetent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Countless of patriotic Nigerians and families had spent huge resources and made exhaustive sacrifices in travelling to their various polling areas to vote for their consensus candidate, Atiku Abubakar, only for INEC to announce this devastating postponement.

    “The public space is replete with how the Buhari Presidency mounted pressure on INEC leadership to postpone the election at the dying minute, so as to place more burdens on voters and frustrate their enthusiasm for the election”.

    The PDP regretted that Nigerians were made to lose trillions of naira, risked their lives on the road and in the air as well as faced other huge loses just because some politicians want to perpetuate themselves in office.

    The spokesman continued, “President Buhari in his desperation for power has again exhibited his insensitivity to the sensibilities of Nigerians, particularly in his deceitful attempt to heap blames on INEC for a plot that was hatched and executed by his Presidency.

    “It is instructive to state that the reasons given for the postponement, including the logistic challenges in the distribution of sensitive election materials, as well as security concerns, were all the machinations of the APC and the Buhari Presidency to create confusion and arrive at a predetermined end, which is to rig the election.

    Read Also: PDP rejects postponement

    “The APC and the Buhari Presidency, having realised that they have no chance of winning, had continued to prepare the ground by inciting acts of violence in various parts of the country, issuing threats to election observers, using the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to escalate a sense of insecurity, burning INEC offices to paralyze its operations as well as using government officials to openly mount pressure on the commission to shift the elections.

    “This is in addition to the compromising of government facilities and agencies to frustrate the distribution of sensitive election materials including results sheets in various states; the provocative substitution of already trained INEC polling officials with APC members as well as the deployment of security forces to simultaneously arrest PDP leaders and supporters, particularly in Kwara, Akwa-Ibom, Imo, Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Kogi, Bayelsa among other states in order to create a sense of national insecurity and trigger violent resistance by the people.

    “APC’s new plot is to escalate series of challenges that will eventually paralyze INEC’s operation in some states so as to stagger the election and pave way to isolate certain critical states, after which it will use compromised security agents to muzzle the polls in those states in favour of President Buhari.

    “Our response to INEC and the Buhari Presidency is that they have only succeeded in postponing the evil day for their candidate, President Buhari”

    The party further said Nigerians will never adjust in their resolve to resist the APC rigging plans and serve President Buhari his defeat certificate at the polls any day, any time.

    “The PDP therefore stands with Nigerians at this critical moment and urge them to stand together in the overall interest of our nation. Our party appreciates the sacrifices and commitment made by Nigerians in the pursuit of a new leadership in our country; we understand the pains and distress they are passing through at this moment due to this postponement.

    “Nevertheless, the PDP urges Nigerians not to despair or allow our resilient spirit for which we are known all over the world to be subjugated at this crucial time. We must pick up ourselves against all odds and stand firm for the future of our dear nation.

    “In that regard, the PDP directs all our members and supporters to remain calm and encourage one another at this critical time. We all must stand together in preparation for the final push next Saturday. We must never give up until victory is assured.

    “Nigerians will never surrender to President Buhari’s anti-democratic forces that want to subjugate our people and derail our hard-earned democracy. President Buhari should therefore perish the thought of rigging this election or achieving a self-succession bid

    “The PDP calls on the international community to note what is happening in Nigeria and hold President Buhari as well as the APC responsible should there be any breakdown of law and order in our country”.

  • False alarm won’t help you, PDP replies Lai Mohammed

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said no amount of fabrications, false alarm and blackmail by the All Progressives Congress (APC) can sway Nigerians or help their plots to rig the 2019 presidential election.

    Responding to allegation the Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed the PDP was planning to disrupt the general elections, the opposition party said it was a fresh attempt by the government to use its chief propagandist to level false allegations.

    In a statement on Tuesday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said the attempt has failed because Nigerians already know those plotting to scuttle the elections by inciting violence and issuing death threats against others.

    The PDP said: “What has Lai Mohammed to say to President Muhammadu Buhari, who in Zamfara state on Sunday, urged his supporters to get ready to fight and unleash violence on other Nigerians?

    “What has Lai Mohammed to say to the threat by his party’s chieftain and governor of Kaduna state, Nasir el-Rufai, who declared that members of the global democratic institution working for peaceful election in our country will return to their countries in body bags?

    “Lai Mohammed has nothing to say to the Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organization, Rotimi Amaechi, who raised a war chant and threatened Nigerians at the APC presidential rally in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

    Read also: Middle Belt leaders restate support for PT’s Olawepo-Hashim

    “It is clear to all that violence, death threats and plot to disrupt the elections have become an official policy of the Buhari Campaign Organization, having realised that President Buhari has no chance in the February 16 presidential election.

    “Nigerians are all aware that the PDP is ready and working hard for this election.

    “The people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has been traversing the nooks and crannies of our country campaigning and receiving overwhelming support by Nigerians, across the board, who have already reached a consensus to elect him as the next President of our country.”

  • FG uncovers fresh plans by PDP to scuttle poll

    … PDP plots to orchestrate crisis, FG alleges

     

    Barely few days to the general elections, the Federal Government on Tuesday alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is planning to orchestrate a crisis and trigger a sense of panic among the populace.

    It said the plot is in furtherance of their plan to discredit the election and cause a constitutional crisis.

    It, however, urged international community to ignore plot to discredit the Saturday poll before it is conducted.

    The government, which made the claims in a statement in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed, said PDP bigwigs, including its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, his running mate Peter Obi, PDP Governors and others, are planning a world press conference in order to level frivolous and unfounded allegations against the government.

    The statement said: “With just a few days to the Presidential and National Assembly elections, the Federal Government has alerted the nation to the last-minute desperate plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to orchestrate a crisis and trigger a sense of panic among the populace, in furtherance of their plan to discredit the election and cause a constitutional crisis.

    “The plot confirms the alarm raised by the Federal Government on Jan. 21st and Feb. 3rd 2019 that the PDP is planning to scuttle the election and, where that fails, discredit it.

    “In the days ahead, PDP bigwigs, including its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, his running mate Peter Obi, PDP Governors and others, are planning a world press conference in order to level frivolous and unfounded allegations against the federal government and the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

    Read Also: Buhari vows to recover $16bn squandered on power by PDP

    The statement gave insights into the plot by the opposition including alleged connivance with the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) by the Presidency.

    The statement added: “Part of the false allegations they plan to make is that the Presidency, in connivance with the APC, is planning to force the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce presidential election results that are favourable to the government in power, on the basis of the false premise that the APC’s intelligence team is worried that the ruling party would lose the elections.

    “The PDP bigwigs also plan to use their world press conference to further disparage the Buhari Administration as well as the ruling APC, with a view to painting an unfavourable image of both  Nigerians and the international community also to put the government on the defensive in the run-up to the polls.

    The Minister said the “PDP’s last joker is a two-hour live press conference to be addressed by the PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, on Feb. 14th, the last day of electioneering campaign, to chronicle all their concocted allegations and lies against the ruling government, cast aspersion on government and ruling party officials and throw innuendos here and there.

    The statement added: ”As electioneering campaign winds down, the PDP has realized that it cannot possibly win free, fair and credible polls. It has thus resorted to engaging in red herring, hauling insults and abuses at Federal Government and ruling party officials and making outlandish allegations with a view to creating a sense of panic and crisis.

    ”The truth is that President Muhammadu Buhari, a man respected globally for his integrity, has continuously assured that the elections will be free, fair, credible and peaceful. He has warmly welcomed observers, both local and foreign., because he has nothing to hide, and because he is sure that the achievements of his Administration will win him re-election.

    Mohammed urged international community to ignore plot to discredit the Saturday poll.

    ”We are therefore calling on all Nigerians and the international community to disregard any attempt to scuttle or discredit the polls.

    “We urge observers to keep an open mind. There is no cause for alarm, except in the warped imagination of the PDP, which has entered the panic mode and is already ruing the loss of another general election even before it has been held,” he said.

  • BREAKING: FG launches fresh onslaught against Boko Haram, ISIS

    The Federal Government has launched a campaign in support of the military war against Boko Haram.

    It also said the campaign has become necessary because Boko Haram has grown beyond homegrown insurgency.

    The Minister of Information Lai Mohammed, who unveiled the campaign in Abuja, said ISIS has a strong foothold in West Africa – with Nigeria at the forefront of the battle against them.

    He urged Nigerians to give total support to troops in North-West.

    Mohammed said: “Recall that on January 8th 2019, we announced that we would soon launch a campaign to seek the support of the citizens for our troops, especially in the fight against insurgency. Today marks the fulfilment of that promise as we are here to formally launch the NATIONAL CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF THE MILITARY.

    “It is a follow-up to the hugely-successful National Campaign Against Insecurity which we launched on Feb. 16th, 2016, with the punchline: ”If you see something, say something.”

    “Why are we launching this campaign? Because we believe that the men and women in uniform who are risking all, including making the supreme sacrifice, to keep us safe deserve the support and prayers of all Nigerians, not vilification, insults and other acts that are capable of dampening their morale.

    The Minister also said the campaign has become necessary because Boko Haram has grown beyond homegrown insurgency.

    Read Also: Boko Haram kills three in Adamawa attacks

    He added: “And why are we launching the campaign now? Because, as our gallant men and women in uniform clear the remnants of the home-grown insurgency called Boko Haram, they are confronting a fresh crisis, a global insurgency.

    “A faction of Boko Haram has aligned with the global terror group, ISIS, to form ISWAP, the Islamic State’s West African Province. In other words, ISIS now has a strong foothold in West Africa – with Nigeria in the forefront of the battle against them.

    “With ISIS largely dislodged from Iraq and Syria, there is undoubtedly a flush of fresh fighters and weapons to ISWAP.

    “Therefore, our military is fighting a global insurgency, without the kind of global coalition, including the United States that battled ISIS in Syria and Iraq”

  • Updated: Opposition plots to discredit 2019 poll, says FG

    For the second time in two weeks, the Federal Government Monday accused the opposition of fresh plans to discredit the general election before, during and after it has been conducted.

    The opposition parties have targeted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police for attack in order to prejudge the poll which will begin in the next 12 days.

    It also said the opposition, led by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had covertly raised a 10-man propaganda delegation to visit some Western capitals, including London, Brussels and Washington, DC.

    It said the mandate of the team was to push the concocted line that President Muhammadu Buhari Administration has perfected the plan to rig the polls.

    It alleged that the opposition had become desperate to seek victory by subterfuge.

    It accused a presidential candidate of having suspicious meetings with some envoys.

    Read Also: INEC needs 1.2m personnel for 2019 polls

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed revealed the latest intelligence at the disposal of the government at a briefing attended by many local and international media.

    Mohammed said the opposition was doing everything possible, including instigating widespread violence as well as relentless attacks on key institutions, to discredit the forthcoming election.

    He said the opposition was already predicting carnage in the event of the President’s victory.

    He said: “With just 12 days to the 2019 election, we have called this press conference to alert Nigerians to the evil machinations of the opposition, which is not campaigning to win the election – because they know they can’t win a free, fair and peaceful election – but are busy planning how to scuttle or discredit it

    “Recall that on Monday, January 21st 2019, we alerted the nation, also via a press conference, to the plot by some opposition elements to scuttle the 2019 general elections by instigating widespread violence across the country. Of course we didn’t just make this up. It was based on credible intelligence

    “We revealed that the plan to scuttle the polls is part of moves to push the nation into a constitutional crisis, with the plotters hoping they can leverage on that to push for an interim government.  When we raised the alarm, the opposition dismissed it. Of course they were shocked to have been found out, so we understand their panic reaction.

    “To underscore the seriousness of our alert, a week after our press conference, the National Security Adviser (NSA) met with state governors to also inform them of this same plan to scuttle the polls via widespread violence. As I said at my last press conference, the alarm we raised is based on credible intelligence.

    “Today, still based on credible intelligence, we can reveal that the opposition is moving a step further. They are working hard to discredit the forthcoming election before, during and after the polls.

    “Specifically, they are sending a delegation to some Western capitals, including London, Brussels and Washington, DC, to push the concocted line that the Buhari Administration has perfected the plan to rig the polls. They are therefore pushing for a rejection of the results if the President wins re-election. They are also predicting carnage in the event of the President’s victory.”

    Responding to a question, Mohammed said: “There is no where there is any insinuation that the Federal Government has lost confidence in the international community. I think, less we are misunderstood, we never say the opposition is hobnobbing with the international community.

    “The opposition parties have decided to, instead of facing their campaigns, resort to international blackmail. We have seen a particular presidential candidate having some suspicious meetings with some envoys.

    “When we have credible intelligence that the opposition is going to carry out some sinister actions, the best and most effective way is to go public”.

    Asked of which of the 73 political parties contesting presidential race behind this plot, the Minister said: “There is PDP, CUPP and their allies.

    Mohammed alleged that the opposition had been using a nebulous group, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) to push its covert agenda.

    He said CUPP nothing more than a reincarnated Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) which was employed to scuttle the Nigeria’s widely-acclaimed freest presidential election in 1993.

    He added: “Already, they have started flying the rigging kite domestically. They have been engaging in incendiary rhetoric and in making outlandish claims using several fronts, including the nebulous Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) which, by the way, is nothing more than a reincarnated Association for Better Nigeria (ABN). Of course you all know the role that the ABN played in the failed 1993 political transition process.

    “They have targeted, for attack, the two key institutions that are most critical to the success of the election: The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police. They have used every malleable and malicious personality to make wild allegations against INEC.

    “Their strategy is simple: Discredit the election even before it is held, and continue during and after the polls with a view to convincing the West – which they believe they have won to their side using lobbyist-propelled propaganda – that the election is not credible.”

    Mohammed attributed the desperation of the opposition to the emerging electoral reality that they might lose the presidential poll.

    He added: “Some may ask: Why would the opposition go to this length? The answer is simple: They know, and are convinced, that they cannot win free, fair, credible and peaceful polls. The handwriting is on the wall for all discerning people to see.

    “While President Buhari has received warm and genuine reception and adulation from huge crowds everywhere he has gone to campaign, their candidate has been exposed to apathetic and thinning crowds! Their numbers just don’t add up!”

    But he restated the commitment of the President to a free and fair poll.

    “On our part, we as an Administration are undaunted by their antics, even though we believe it is necessary to expose their evil plans – as we have been doing – to the world. President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly stated his commitment to ensuring a free, fair and violence-free election.

    “He has no doubt – based on testimonies of change from Nigerians – that the achievements of his Administration, in the three cardinal areas of fighting corruption, revamping the economy and fighting insecurity, will speak for him at the polls. He did not rig his way into office and has no need to rig now that he is in office.

    The Minister urged Nigerians and the international community to beware of the antics of the opposition.

    “We are therefore compelled to alert Nigerians and the global community to the following:

    • The desperate opposition is doing everything possible, including instigating widespread violence as well as relentless attacks on key institutions, to discredit the forthcoming election. They know they will lose the election, but they want victory by subterfuge.
    • To further their plan, the opposition is dispatching a 10-member delegation to some Western capitals, including London, Brussels and Washington, DC, to sell the idea that the Buhari Administration has perfected the plan to rig the election. They have no empirical basis for the idea they are pushing, beyond relying on exploiting the nation’s ‘fault lines’ of religion, ethnicity and regionalism.
    • The opposition is approaching the election with an incredible level of desperation. In this regard, they have activated their own version of the infamous Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), under the guise of CUPP, to engage in unrestrained rabble-rousing and frivolous court cases. Of course, the activities of CUPP in recent times are there for all to see, even though the coalition seems to be a very poor imitation of the original ABN.
    • The Buhari Administration is committed to free, fair, credible and peaceful polls. We are glad that local and international observers are already fully mobilized to monitor the election.

    “We call on all Nigerians to be vigilant as we begin the final countdown to the election. Eternal vigilance, as the saying goes, is the price of liberty. We must not allow desperate politicians to crash our democracy on the altar of their personal – and sometimes inordinate – ambition!”

  • Onnoghen’s suspension not signal to dictatorship – FG

    The Federal Government says the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Onnoghen, does not signify the onset of dictatorship or tyranny, as some people have insinuated.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who gave the explanation at a media briefing in Abuja on Monday, said that the suspension had nothing to do with the forthcoming elections.

    He said contrary to what the opposition and their likes had been saying, the CJN’s suspension was a consequence of his breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.

    He stressed that President Muhammadu Buhari “is an avowed democrat, which he has proven time and time again and the Administration stands firm on the rule of law’’.

    “It amounts to irresponsible extrapolation to say that the suspension of Justice Onnoghen is the onset of dictatorship.

    “This whole issue is about the country’s highest judicial officer, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, being accused of a breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, and the legal and moral conundrum surrounding that.

    “It is about the suspicious transactions running into millions of dollars to the suspended CJN’s personal accounts, all undeclared or improperly declared as required by law.

    “It is about the Hon. Justice Onnoghen himself admitting to the charges that he indeed failed to follow the spirit and letter of the law in declaring his assets, calling it a ‘mistake’.

    “And it is about him refusing to take responsibility, instead opted to put the entire judiciary on trial,’’ he said.

    He said that the Government had given the embattled CJN the opportunity of fair hearing, but he abused his position and the judicial process by filing frivolous applications and even dodging service of process.

    The minister also said that the suspension of Onnoghen was not in anyway, a threat to the nation’s democracy or the country’s very existence.

    Read Also; Onnoghen: ‘Ensure diligent prosecution, not persecution’

    Quoting Lord Denning, the then Lord Justice of the British Court of Appeal, Mohammed said “a judge should in his own character be beyond reproach, or at any rate should have so disciplined himself that he is not himself a breaker of the law.

    He added: ”Nations fall when judges are unjust, because there is nothing which the multitude think worth defending.”

    The minister berated a section of the media for shirking their agenda-setting role and failing to objectively lead the discourse on the issue of the allegation facing the CJN and his subsequent suspension.

    “It is regrettable to note that the media, which should have led the discourse, has not done so. In fact, a section of the media has taken sides. Several newspapers have written editorials on this issue.

    “Some newspapers have employed rather crude and obnoxious language to push forth their opinions, while others have been more tempered.

    “But curiously, none has written from a perspective that shows that they understand the big picture,’’ he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Jan. 25 complied with the order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, directing the suspension of the CJN.

    The CJN was suspended pending the determination of the cases against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal and several fora relating to his alleged breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.

    The President, who announced Onnoghen’s suspension at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday consequently swore in Justice Tanko Mohammed as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.

    Since then, there have been widespread reactions to the development from within and outside the country.

  • No shortcut to wealth, success – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has admonished Nigerian youths to be focussed and assiduous and shun any kind of shortcut to wealth and success.

    The Minister gave the admonition on Friday in Ogbomosho, Oyo state at a funeral service of Late Dr Abidoye Ayoola, a foremost Nigerian Engineer in Oil and Gas.

    Reacting to question on spate of “get rich quick syndrome, cultism and ritual” among Nigerian youths, the minister told newsmen that “every enduring success must be painstaking”.

    He said the youths must take a cue from Ayoola who attained the peak of his career on account of “hard work, tenacity, unusual professionalism and high integrity”.

    The minister noted that Nigeria is full of opportunities which are open to those who can be painstaking and assiduous in what they do.

    Read Also: El-Rufai, Lai Mohammed warn against fake news, hate speech

    “There is no short cut to wealth and success, every enduring success must be painstaking and comes with it’s own obstacles.

    “As long as you remained focussed and assiduous, you will reach the peak and make your own contributions to the development of Nigeria,” he said.

    Born on Nov. 27, 1947 to a royal house in Ogbomosho, the deceased obtained a Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1970 from University of Lagos and a Master in Petroleum Engineering in 1975 from the University of Southwester Lousiana, USA.

    After graduating, he was engaged by the then Gulf Oil Company, now Chevron where he worked as Petroleum Engineer.

    He later moved to another US-based company, Solar Turbines International where on account of hard work, was appointed Manager in charge of business in the West Africa District.

    In 1980, he established his own company and thus became Chairman/Chief Executive of Negris Limited, a foremost engineering services company involved in the design, procurement, installation, commissioning and maintenance of gas turbines and related company.

  • Alleged N2.5bn fraud: PDP demands probe of Lai Mohammed, others

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has charged the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to go beyond the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Is’haq Kawu Modibbo and institute a system-wide investigation into an alleged N2.5 billion NBC scandal.

    The PDP particularly demanded an open investigation into the roles possibly played by certain top government officials, including the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in the matter.

    The party said ICPC’s uncovering of fraud in the N2.5billion NBC Digital Switch Over (DSO) contract has further exposed the inherent corruption in the administration and how presidential officials and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have allegedly been siphoning billions of naira from government agencies.

    The statement said: “This further exposes how corruption has become endemic at the NBC under the direct supervision of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who has not yet cleared his name on the N13.1 million NBC loan scandal since May 2016.

    Read Also: PDP will revamp economy — Peter Obi

    “The party therefore urges the ICPC to go beyond the N2.5 billon NBC fraud and investigate the allegations Alhaji Lai Mohammed abused the privilege of his office by approving a letter from his office requesting the NBC, an agency under his supervision, to advance a loan of N13.1 million to his ministry for a purported official assignment in China.

    “The demand, which was against budgetary approvals, principle of TSA and the anti-corruption claims of the government he represents, has not been investigated and culprits prosecuted, even when it was clear that it corrupted the agency in converting it into a lending institution, against our financial regulations and the laws that established the NBC.

    “Alhaji Lai Mohammed is a spokesperson of the Buhari administration, which claims to be committed to the fight against corruption.

    “He cannot, in all honesty, hold such a position with this allegation still hanging around his neck.

    “This is more so as allegations are rife in the public space that agencies in the Ministry of Information and Culture now reek of corrupt and sharp practices in the last three years”.

  • We are not interested in Interim government, says PDP

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected insinuations that opposition parties were toying with the idea of setting up an Interim Government, as stated by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at a briefing in Abuja on Monday.

    The main opposition party countered that it cannot accept any form of unconstitutional governance and a contraption like an interim government.

    A statement Tuesday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said its confident of a landslide victory for its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar in the February 16 presidential election.

    The PDP said a suggestion of an Interim Government, under any pretext, context or contemplation can only come from desperate and unpatriotic minds in a failed administration, or from a political party that has lost hope of being re-elected in a free, fair and credible election, due to its manifest incompetence and humongous corruption.

    “Every Nigerian knows the desperation of the APC and the Buhari Presidency ahead of the 2019 general election, leading to their resort to threats, intimidation and clamp down on dissenting voices, as well as, assault on institutions of democracy, in the face of incontrovertible indices pointing to their imminent crushing defeat at the polls.

    Read Also: PDP urges Yakubu to resist pressure

    “The PDP has already alerted Nigerians that Alhaji Lai Mohammed had let out APC’s ignoble “plan B” of “if we can’t have it, then destroy it”, which is to cause violence, derail the electoral process and blame it on the opposition; not minding the damage such could cause the nation, including human and material losses.

    “We hope such cruel plot, as revealed by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, is not the underlining reason behind the APC administration’s alleged neglect and undermining of our security forces fighting in the fronts”, the statement added.

    The main opposition party charged Alhaji Lai Mohammed to come clear on the source of his information, if it is not a plot being hatched by the APC.

    The PDP urged the Minister to tell Nigerians if his source of information was the Police, the military or the Directorate of State Services (DSS) so that they can appropriately channel their concerns.

    The party urged Nigerians to be at alert and keep an eye on the APC in their “nefarious” plans against the nation, adding that the ruling party has made its strategy public.

    “On our own part, the PDP is prepared and ready for the elections. We have been going round the country peacefully, campaigning and presenting our candidate, policies and programmes to the electorate.

    “The PDP will therefore not accept any form of interim government, not when Nigerians have already attained a consensus to rally behind and vote in the peoples Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as their next President, come February 16, 2019”, the PDP further said.