Spare nobody in recovering Nigeria’s stolen money, UPP tells Buhari

THE United Progressive Party, UPP, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to spare anybody that has stolen the nation’s wealth in his bid to recover such monies.

The National Chairman and presidential candidate of the party in the March 28 election, Chief Chekwas Okorie in a statement in Abuja Wednesday told Buhari to go all out against those that had caused hardship to the country by stealing the common wealth.

Chief Okorie also commended the President for taking time in constituting his cabinet especially the appointments of ministers, adding that the reason given by the administration on the delay for the appointments of ministers was logical and convincing.

He said, “We wish to register our approval, support and solidarity with President Muhammadu Buhari on all aspects of the pronouncements he has so far made in all the official engagements in which he participated including his separate meetings with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and other relevant government and state establishments in Washington.

“The reasons he has given for the delay in constituting his cabinet are unassailable, logical and convincing. We therefore enjoin all Nigerians to remain patient and pray to God to grant our President the wisdom to do what is right and fair, and to constitute his government in line with the timetable he has set out for himself.

“The critical areas that the President requested the American government for support and assistance are well pointed and germane.

“It boggles the mind but not surprising that President Buhari on the basis of information available to him has estimated that Nigeria’s public funds in private hands laundered abroad directly or through surrogates and phoney companies in the past decades amount to about $150 billion US dollars.

“He therefore requested the American Government on behalf of the long suffering people of Nigeria to assist the country in tracking and repatriating these monies back to Nigeria.

“We believe that an equivalent of that amount of money in cash and other assets can also be tracked within Nigeria and recovered for the benefit of Nigerian people. There should be no sacred cows in the pursuit of the recovering of our stolen wealth.”

The UPP National Chairman recalled that in its visits to the President after the election, the party had charged him not to spare anybody in his fight against corruption as there should not be any sacred cow.

According to him, “We wish to recall that when the leadership of our great Party, UPP, paid a courtesy visit to the then President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, we stated inter alia, “…that your government should among other things spare no effort to recover all recoverable of our common patrimony in private hands, whether in Nigeria or abroad which has been illegally or illegitimately acquired.”

“We further stated in that same address to him that “…we are convinced that recovering as little as 25% of our common wealth in private hands will go a long way in assisting you to fulfill most of your campaign promises to the Nigerian people, to the glory of God.

“As we look forward to the safe return of the President and his delegation to Nigeria to continue the arduous task of rebuilding Nigeria, we urge him to speedily constitute or reconstitute as well as strengthen or fortify the relevant agencies of government that will embark without delay the process of recovering all illegal or illegitimate acquisitions by Nigerians and their agents that can be traced whether in cash, stocks, real estate or any form conceivable.

“Let all Nigerians cooperate with the government of President Muhammadu Buhari in this patriotic effort.”