The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has cautioned against the reported approval by President Muhammadu Buhari for the payment of the $418 million suspicious debt despite widespread national objection by stakeholders, including state governors, chairmen of local governments, and anti-graft agencies.
The caucus in a statement signed by its leader, Ndudi Elumelu, asked President Buhari to note that “the consent judgment being relied upon for the payment is cloudy, opaque, and raises apprehensions of huge swindle on the national treasure which requires immediate investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission”.
The caucus called on President Buhari to, in the national interest, immediately halt the payment processes until after the investigations insisting that the objection raised by the Association of Local Governments in Nigeria, ALGON, and the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, NGF, in calling for a forensic audit into the claims by the creditors, must be taken into consideration.
The lawmakers further emphasised that governance is a collective responsibility of all tiers and as such all views must be considered before such decisions are reached and implemented.
While noting that they will not allow the President to be misled, the Minority Caucus demands that the Attorney General and Minister of Justice avail themselves of the audit to bring the processes and circumstances surrounding the judgment debt to public glare.