The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Federal Government to release the names and details of sponsors and companies linked with terrorism in the country.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had earlier in Abuja on Thursday said the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has uncovered 96 financiers of terrorism, including 424 associates of the financiers.

Mohammed, who made the disclosure while speaking on the anti-corruption fight of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, said 123 companies and 33 bureaux de change linked with terrorism have also been uncovered.

The minister, however, did not release the names of the sponsors and companies linked with terrorism.

Reacting to the development, the PDP, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, challenged the ruling party to “publish the names and details of those it claims to be sponsors of terrorism and those it claims to have been arrested”.

The PDP said: “In the very pathetic attempt to conceal the apparent complicity of the APC in the advent and continuing insecurity in the country, the Minister of Information and Culture laboured strenuously and claimed that the APC government has uncovered 96 sponsors of terrorism and arrested 45 persons confirmed to be terrorists.

“This is laughable because Nigerians know that the APC administration harbours within its rank a self-confessed terrorism apologist, Dr. Isa Pantami, who superintend over the very critical Ministry of Communication and its agencies which are very vital in any meaningful fight against terrorism

“Nigerians ask, if the APC cannot purge itself of a self-confessed terrorism apologist, how can it claim to have effectively confronted terrorism in the country? The PDP restates its demand to the APC to publish the names and details of those it claims to be sponsors of terrorism and those it claims to have been arrested.

“Nigerians have decoded the lying propensity of the APC and can no longer be hoodwinked. Like everything in life, the lies and propaganda of the APC at every election cycle has expiry date and as such the APC should expect the inevitable crushing verdict of the people in the 2023 elections.”

The opposition party described the allegations as efforts by the APC-led government to cover various corruption allegations against the administration.

Ologunagba said: “The PDP describes the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration as a government of shameless liars and barefaced thieves, who have pawned their souls to the devil.

“The PDP’s position is predicated on the desperate attempt by the Buhari administration to whitewash itself by sending the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, whose stock-in-trade is well known to again assault the sensibilities of Nigerians with litany of fake claims on anti-corruption and anti-terrorism fight when in reality the Buhari administration is sinking deeper into the abyss of failure on these planks.

“The APC administration is unsettled by the Transparency International (TI) Report which ranks Nigeria under President Buhari as the second most corrupt country in West Africa and 154 out of 180 in Global Corruption Index, given APC’s humongous corruption including the exposed looting of over N16 trillion public funds by APC leaders and their cronies in government.

“In its ludicrous anti-corruption scorecard, the APC government has no response to the reported looting of $25 billion under its watch as detailed in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) leaked memo under its watch.”

The opposition party continued: “The APC government should give answers to the reported stealing of N165 billion in the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), the N1.5 trillion and $9.5 million reportedly stolen from Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the $65 million frittered from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) as well as the N90 billion reportedly looted from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

“This is in addition to the reported looting of N33 billion from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the reported stealing of over N18 billion from the rehabilitation of IDPs in the North-East, the over N25 billion from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as well as the looting of N500 billon Social Investment Programme Fund as revealed by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, among others.”

TheStar