APC Chieftain Wants Okonjo-iweala Prosecuted For ‘Betraying’ Nigeria
APC Chieftain Wants Okonjo-iweala Prosecuted For ‘Betraying’ Nigeria
By Chris Suleiman, Abuja
A Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Mr Osita Okechukwu said former Minister of Finance under President Goodluck Jonathan should be prosecuted for what he described as betraying Nigeria while she served as the coordinating minister of the economy in the last administration.
Osita, who is the Publicity Secretary of the South East caucus of the APC in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen where he was reacting to the minister’s comment, which she said the last administration lack the political will to save.
Osita said “It is not just a statement, it is self confession of Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-IWEALA, immediate past Minister of Finance to the effect that she failed woefully to save Nigeria’s humongous Crude Oil Windfall under her watch, in an economy which ex-president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, innocently handed over to her to coordinate. Please it is self confession.”
According to him “Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-IWEALA should be prosecuted for her conspiracy in squandering the humongous Crude Oil Windfall which accrued under her watch as Minister of Finance and the Coordinator of the economy.
“My understanding is that ex-president Jonathan handed over the economy for our sister to manage because of her acclaimed international pedigree. A World Bank renowned economist and one who bided for World Bank President has no excuse; for her to remain in office while the profligacy was going on, in other words supervised the bazaar, and refused to resign in honour, she should be jailed.”
On the fact that she was not the President and the buck didn’t stop at her desk, Mr Okechukwu retorted, “Give me a break. Ngozi could should have resigned, that’s the path of honour and rectitude. It is easy to sit in her comfort zone in the United States and plot an escape route from the economic adversity she unleashed on Nigerians. Am not defending the ex-president, but let the truth be told. Jonathan is now the bad guy, while she is the saint. Did she cry out loud or resign?”
“Hear her, We saved $22 billion because the political will to do it was there. This time round, and this is the key now, you need not only to have the instrument, but you also need the political will. In my second time as finance minister, from 2011 to 2015, we had the instrument, we had the means, we had done it before, but zero political will.
“Why didn’t she quit her juicy office to demonstrate her sincerity? This is a lady held in high esteem who publicly announced the award of three Greenfield Refineries at $23 billion in 2010, one to be located in Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi states, and the question is where is the refineries or the money? She should be jailed for betraying our citizenry.
“For me she is a con artist who deceived the whole world by her Nollywood-Rebasing of Nigerian economy as the largest economy in Africa. Can a looted treasury produce the growth she posted during the Jonathan era?”
