The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the alleged attempt by the federal government, in conjunction with some members of the National Assembly to cover up the smuggling of $9.3 million to South Africa on a private plane for the purpose of procuring arms.

The party however said the cover-up would fail because the issues involved transcend Nigeria.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the attempt at a cover-up “manifested clearly in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, when Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha curiously refused to entertain a debate on a motion seeking a probe of the issue that has further ridiculed Nigeria in the global community”.

It said the refusal by the deputy speaker became even more suspicious amid allegations that some members of the House had each received $50,000 as inducement to quash the motion.

APC however hailed its members in the House for staging a walkout to protest against the inexplicable decision not to allow the issue to be debated on the floor of the House.

It said by their actions, they had aligned with the majority of Nigerians, who are eager to get to the bottom of how such a huge amount of money was smuggled into another country by the Nigerian authorities, despite being fully aware of the limitation on the amount of money that can be taken into any country.

The party said while the Senate has already launched a probe into the issue, Nigerians would have preferred that the probe is done openly, instead of behind closed doors, so there won’t be any shade of doubt about the transparency of the investigation.

It however expressed hope that the Senate would do a thorough job to unravel the circumstances surrounding the cash “smuggling-gate”.
“It is shocking that those who were elected by the people will fail to act in the interest of the people. But then we in the APC are not really surprised at this development, going by the antecedents of the Jonathan administration and his party, the PDP.

“Thank goodness, every day the PDP and the government it has sired at the centre are showing why they should not be voted back into office,” it said.

The party insisted that the Jonathan administration and all concerned must come clean on the circumstances surrounding the ferrying of the huge funds to South Africa, including why a government that has spent millions of naira to promote a cashless policy decided to transport 90 blocks of $100,000 each to another country in violation of that country’s laws.

“The resort to ‘procedural error’ is not enough to explain this irresponsible and illegal action, neither is it enough to explain why a duly constituted government will behave like a rogue government or even like insurgents who will be shopping for arms in the open market.

“Fortunately for Nigerians, South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has said the issue is still under criminal investigation, meaning all attempts to sweep the scandal under the carpet, as the Jonathan administration is used to doing, will fail,” the opposition party added.

APC called on all well-meaning Nigerians as well as civil society organisations to ensure that the circumstances surrounding this scandal are unravelled in the interest of Nigeria and her people.

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