$311m Abacha loot: You're only crying because you can't share the money

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is crying foul about the recently-returned $311 million Abacha loot because the former ruling party does not have the opportunity to reloot the funds as it used to.

APC stated this in a Thursday statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu.

The ruling party was reacting to the main opposition party’s claim that the funds repatriated from the United States and the Island of Jersey were set to be embezzled by a cabal in the presidency and APC.

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has uncovered fresh plots by the cabal in the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use fake subheads and duplicated projects as ploy to re-loot the recently repatriated $311millon.

“The party signaled that the cabal had perfected the use of fake subheads as nomenclatures to mislead those who repatriated the fund and pave way for the frittering of the money to their private pockets as they had done with earlier repatriated funds.

“The PDP revealed that part of the strategy of the cabal is to hype hazy subheads and stampede the dissipation of the funds without the statutory approval of the National Assembly, which enables them to muddle up accountability processes, conceal their fraud and divert the attention of the unsuspecting public from the scam.

“The fraudulent dissipation of the funds will then be followed with false performance claims as well as blackmailing and intimidation of Nigerians demanding for both transparency and accountability in the handling of the money,” PDP claimed in a statement on Wednesday.

But in a counter statement, APC described PDP as a corrupt party that is “saddened by a missed opportunity to share the money as they used to”.

“It is clear that the US, UK and other countries holding our looted funds and assets have now found a trusted government led by President Buhari to return stolen assets and it is our collective pride as a country to regain the trust of the international community.

“The funds being repatriated under the President Buhari government is an indictment on successive PDP administrations which many countries found too corrupt and with a renowned propensity to re-loot the stolen monies, hence they held on to much of the funds,” the ruling party claimed.