Minister Oby Ezekwesili
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, has given the federal government a seven-day ultimatum to challenge former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili, in a public debate as she rightly demanded.
The group in a statement on Wednesday, said Information Minister, Labaran Maku, or any other government officials should represent it in the public argument.
Ezekwesili, a former vice president of the World Bank, while delivering a speech at the Universityy of Nigeria, Nsukka, had accused the administration of the late former President, Umaru Yar’adua and the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan of squandering over $60 billion left in Foreign Reserves and Excess Crude Account in 2007 by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo.
The one-time Director of Bureau of Public Procurement later dared the government to a public debate after Maku accused her of “self indictment and lies.” Maku had also accused Ezekwesili of mismanagement of special intervention funds during her tenure as the Minister for Education.
The CNPP through its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, noted that: “For the avoidance of doubt many public commentators, anti-corruption crusaders and we of the CNPP had severally bemoaned the pervasive corruption in the land, the criminal squandermania of our patrimony and uncommon culture of impunity, in the last 13 years.”
“Secondly and most importantly is the fact that the Minister of Information, Mr. Maku also leveled allegations of monumental corruption on the former minister.”
“Thirdly, ex-president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo under which Ms. Ezekwesili served had serially labeled the President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime as incurably corrupt.”
Okechukwu added that: “For us, corruption is a major contentious issue and there is no better time than this for the Jonathan administration to use the public debate to erase the epitaph of engraving its name in the hall of infamy as the most corrupt regime in the annals of the country.”
“Therefore we challenge the Jonathan administration to climb down from the high horse and embrace the debate; which more than any press conference offers them the window to wipe out the inciting information, which is gaining ground.”
“The debate in our viewpoint is a win-win scenario which indeed offers the government a rare vista to clear the lingering doubt over its commitment to war against corruption.
“In sum, we challenge President Jonathan to convoke this debate within 7 Days or we stand on Mrs. Ezekwesili’s allegation to prosecute the government for unbridled and wanton looting of the national treasury,” the statement concluded.
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