The Federal Government has asked the Peoples Democratic Party to completes its apology to Nigerians by returning all the alleged funds looted from the public treasury during its 16 years in power.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also challenged the party to show the genuineness of its apology through a discernible change of attitude.
Mohammed’s reaction followed the apology made by the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus at the party’s function in Abuja on Monday, where he asked Nigerians to forgive the party.
He said the party erred in the past with the way it handled its internal affairs like the imposition of candidates and impunity among its leaders.
He said the action of the party made Nigerians to reject the PDP and voted the All Progressives Congress in 2015.
While saying that the party had learnt its lessons, Secondus assured Nigerians the PDP was ready to offer Nigerians what he described as a “genuine change” in 2019.
However, Mohammed said such apology was not enough.
He said, ”The PDP presided over an unprecedented looting of the public treasury, perhaps the worst of its kind in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world.
“Therefore, the best evidence of penitence for such a party is not just to own up and apologise, but to also return the looted funds. Anything short of that is mere deceit.
”Even with the paucity of funds, this administration has spent an unprecedented amount of money on infrastructural development and Social Investment Programme, among others. Returning looted funds will provide more money for these programmes and make life more meaningful for Nigerians. There is no better apology than that.”
PUNCH
