The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said yesterday that the Federal Government will not shield any high profile member of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, involved in the alleged misuse of security funds.
The Minister, who stated this during a parley with reporters in Lagos, also cited the administration’s unwillingness to risk the lives of the kidnapped Chibok girls for the restraint the Nigerian Military is exercising in unleashing the totality of its might on the Boko Haram insurgents in Sambisa forest.
While calling on the media not to glamourise the insurgents in their activities, Mohammed also defended the administration’s proposals to expend N3.6 billion on the purchase of BMW cars in the 2016 fiscal year.
Daring the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to move beyond speculations to name any APC member involved in the alleged misuse of security funds, the minister said calls by the PDP to constitute a truth commission to probe the utilisation of security funds were unnecessary given that all the confessions made by those involved in the alleged deal were undisputed.
“We do not see the nexus between the revelation coming out now and a truth commission”, Mohammed said, adding that the call by the PDP on President Muhammadu Buhari to reveal the source of his campaign fund was wrongly directed.
“What the PDP is looking for is just distractions. If there is any allegation against any member of the APC, make the allegation open. All we are hearing are whispers. If there is evidence provide them in the open”, the Minister challenged the main opposition party.
Mohammed also restated the determination of the Buhari administration to maintain the path of frugality as he dismissed insinuations that the proposal to purchase N3.6 billion worth of cars was misdirected.
According to him, the proposal could have been meant for the Conference Visitors Unit, which is responsible for the transportation of visiting foreign leaders.
“It is quite possible that some of the BMW cars being referred to are for the use of the VIPs. What I can assure you is that this government is very prudent in its spending. I can tell you that no minister bought a new car, all of us inherited the cars used by our predecessors. This is the last government that you can accuse of extravagance”, the Minister said.
