Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has called on the former Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, to return the N260m allegedly shared to him by the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Dasuki Sambo (rtd), from the $2.1 billion Abacha loot meant for arms purchase to fight terrorism in parts of the country.
Speaking at a rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benin City where some PDP members including two former members of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Patrick Ikhariale and Hon Abbas Braimoh, defected to the APC, Oshiomhole said, “We have seen even the godfather’s name being mentioned. Even at old age, he collected N260m, and I want the godfather to deny or to confirm it. If he wants to refund the money, I will collect it from him and I will go to Abuja without deducting anything from it, and I will hand it over to President Muhammadu Buhari.”
On Anenih’s tenure as Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the governor said, “And you can see, this is not yet an outcome of any investigation. I am sure by the time the NPA book is fully opened, more revelations will come out.”
Making reference to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Oshiomhole said, “By the time they open NIMASA, you will understand how these people helped themselves and their families, and deprived even the activists who helped to make them relevant. When it was time for help, they dealt quietly, when it was time to mobilise they used everybody. And I think if this is what President Buhari has done for Nigeria, helping us to understand how old people were eating the grasscutter which the younger boys had gone to the bush to bring home.
“Even without teeth, in their 90s, they never stop stealing. So you can see why new changes are necessary. Not just to build roads but to change the political system they don’t allow the young to grow. We respect elders, but the elders must not prevent the younger ones from growing.”
He commended Buhari’s efforts in his fight against corruption and assuring uninterrupted power supply.
“President Buhari has a huge task of rebuilding a country that has been so grossly mismanaged. I believe God loves Nigeria so much that he gave us President Buhari at the time he did. Now when you read newspapers, you can imagine if Jonathan had continued in office, where we could have been today. You can only imagine that.
“For the first time, big people are being asked to account. In the past, you only hear of governors, we only hear of local government chairmen, commissioners. But this time, we are seeing a minister of finance confessing like a witch,” Oshiomhole said.
