Main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has stated that the recent revelation by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, that there is humongous fraud in the N500 billion Social Investment Programme (SIP) and the N16 billion Mosquito Net Project of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, has further vindicated its stance that the administration is deceitful and a pretentious citadel of corruption.
But, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Social Investment, Mrs. Maryam Uwais, has faulted the president’s wife, insisting that 250,000 people benefited from the scheme in Adamawa State.
In a statement made Sunday by PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that more disheartening was the fact that the said funds were meant for the welfare of the poor, whom the President had always claimed to represent in government.
PDP added that, Aisha Buhari’s revelation has further shown that the PDP has not been crying wolf by insisting that Buhari must account for the trillions of naira stolen under his watch in the last four years.
Ologbondiyan added, “Unfortunately, these poor Nigerians have been waiting endlessly for the failed social investments promised by President Buhari only to have their hopes dashed as revelations by Mrs. Buhari, which shown that the money provided for the programme had been stolen.
“It is indeed appalling that the Buhari’s administration would be sitting on such colossal corruption and continues to thrive in evil concealment while diverting public attention from their rot by hounding innocent opposition figures on trump-up corruption charges.
“Nigerians can now see how the same administration presided over by Mr. Integrity has been using the names of innocent poor Nigerians to loot our national treasury and fritter away billions of naira to finance their wasteful lifestyle while Nigerians wallow in abject poverty.”
Meanwhile, Uwais last night disclosed that contrary to Aisha Buhari’s claim, 250,000 people benefited in Adamawa State.
According to her, 11,000 graduates were recruited and working on the scheme in Adamawa State, while the school feeding programme also kicked off in the state in October 2018 in 12 local government areas.