PDP Is A Sad Testimony Of Everything Wrong About Nigeria – Fani-Kayode

Former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode has the described the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, which has been in existence since the past 5 years in Nigeria as a sad testimony of everything that is wrong with the country. He, however, did not spare himself of blame as a former member of the party. He said that he would admit to being partly responsible for the failure of the PDP leaders having contributed to putting them in office, a situation which he says explains why he is, along with other decamped member, bent on righting the wrongs and seeing to it that they (PDP) are removed from office. Speaking on Channels Television, he noted that the PDP that existed during the presidency of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo was the good old PDP, reminding all that Nigeria was debt free for the first time in many years at the end of the Obasanjo administration, but the country had since the Jonathan era gone back to debts, reeling out of statistics of depreciation in the country’s foreign reserves since the current administration. Fani-Kayode, who insisted on clarifying the reasons behind his decision to leave the PDP, also criticized the Power Sector reforms of the Jonathan administration, claiming that the country generated 4,300 megawatts at the end of the Obasanjo administration but the country was down generating as low as around 3,000 megawatts. He drew several criticisms from different issues surrounding the Nigerian government, ranging from the finance sector, the missing 20 billion Naira of the NNPC, the suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, amongst others. To the reports that his former boss, Obasanjo spent about 16billion Naira on the power sector during his administration, Fani-Kayode reacted angrily that this was an unfair lie, saying that he prayed that God would forgive former President Yar’adua and others who were making the allegation. He claimed that 6billion Naira was appropriated but only 3 billion was released. He was however drawn back to his position as a former Minister in the aviation sector which has been seen to have experienced more development since the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan than in his time. Fani-Kayode refused to criticize former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, but noted that the resources available to them were not same as the latter had access to more funds. He also added that his place in the history of the ministry was a special one as he maintained the safest aviation industry that did not experience any crash, a feat he said was more important than beautifying airports. An Economist and member of the PDP, Dr. Katchy Ononuju, who joined the interview via telephone however brought a new angle to the discussion and accused Fani-Kayode of corruption during his time in charge of the Aviation Ministry. He noted that the major problem the People's Democratic Party had with Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode was about his credibility. Kayode insisted on having his say on the allegations which he called “absolutely absurd and unacceptable.” Providing figures of monies available to him as Minister, his spending and the monies left in the Ministry’s account, he stated that it was unprecedented for any minister to leave funds in the account of the ministry. He challenged Ononuju to a debate on the allegations of corruption leveled against him. He reminded the show host that he left the party alongside other former PDP members, rather than the belief that they were played out of the party. He alleged that some of them were offered positions to make them shut up about what was wrong with the party and the government but they were not wired that way, as building Nigeria was their priority. He also responded to the comments made by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh’s about the APC manifesto, saying that he did not expect Metuh to say anything different from what he had said as “he (Metuh) represents a sinking ship”. He, however, would have none of the PDP’s reference to the issues of Boko Haram. Kayode took exception to the call for the issue of insecurity in the country not to be politicized as he spoke passionately. He insisted that “the biggest political issue in this country is the issue of innocent Nigerians being killed” and accused the government of “not doing their job”.