The National Vice-Chairman (South-South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to punish all culprits indicted in the forensic audit report on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
All Facts News had reported that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, had last Thursday submitted the report to the President through the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
The report had shown that there were over 13,000 abandoned projects in the Niger Delta, and that multinational oil companies had allegedly failed to remit over $4billion to the commission.
Addressing reporters in Abuja on Sunday, Orbih asked the President to make the submitted report public and not sweep the outcome of the investigation under the carpet.
The PDP chieftain also urged President Buhari to release the names of culprits indicted in the report and punish them for their acts of corruption and for sabotaging the people of the Niger Delta.
He, however, appealed to the President not to pardon any member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) indicted in the audit report.
Welcoming the report, Orbih described the NDDC as a cesspool of corruption where misguided politicians were milking the people of the South-South dry instead of developing the region.
“The outcome of the forensic audit report confirms my worst fears. NDDC is the centre of corruption in Nigeria. President Buhari must not allow this report to gather dust or be swept under the carpet. It may have its flaws because of the processes leading up to it but it remains too important to toy with.
“The Niger Delta has been robbed for too long and our people demand transparency in the implementation of the findings of the forensic exercise. I call on Mr President to make the audit report public without delay,
“President Buhari must prove this time that he is not selective in dispensing justice to all those involved in the criminal act of sabotaging the economy. We demand that all individuals indicted by the report must be made to face the law. Being a member of APC should not be a ticket to freedom in the matter of recklessly stealing from our people. The President must be firm and just.” Orbih said.
The PDP stalwart asked President Buhari to apologise for appointing incompetent individuals into the Board of NDDC, alleging that they were largely responsible for the woes of the agency for the past six years.
“The APC government must apologize to the people of the South-South for imposing an incompetent Board on NDDC. Their indiscretion is largely responsible for our woes today,” Orbih alleged.