Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has raised alarm accusing the presidency and the leadership of the APC of a plot to induce its Senators, House of Reps and State House of Assembly members with humongous cash to impeach the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara.
Frank made the allegation in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.
He alleged that Governors Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Samuel Ortom have been marked for removal in the said plot.
He said while Saraki and the governors have been slated for removal for daring to defect from the APC to the opposition PDP, Dogara is to be impeached for fear he may soon dump the APC as well.
He described the ongoing plot to illegally dispense state funds to carry out the unconstitutional removal of duly elected public officials as the height of impunity and corruption that has been prevalent in the present administration since inception in May 2015.
Frank said: “From available information, the Presidency in collaboration with the leadership of the APC is about to dole out the sum of $400,000 (about N150million) each to APC Senators and House of Representatives members to impeach Saraki who has defected to the PDP and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara – who they fear may soon dump the party as well.
“They are also offering legislators in some State Houses of Assembly the sum of $150,000 (about N50million) each, to impeach their Governors that recently defected to the PDP.”
He said that the President has allegedly directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to foot the bills to achieve the objective of removing the defectors from their present political positions.
“I have been reliably informed that after separate meetings with APC Senators and House of Representatives members, shortly before his U.K. trip, the President summoned the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and after informing him that ‘APC lawmakers have a proposal’, he ‘directed the GMD to attend to their needs.’
“I want Nigerians and members of the international community to note that this ‘presidential order’ is coming at a period when State Governors have incessantly complained, during their monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meetings in Abuja, about unexplained shortfalls in remittances of crude oil sales to the Federation Account by the NNPC.
“From this curious directive, it is now clear to Nigerians and the world at large, that the amount accruing to the Federation Account from monthly crude oil sales is being deliberately and illegally deducted at source and set aside by the NNPC – on the orders of the presidency – to fund illegal operations like their present desperate bid to remove Saraki, Dogara and Governors that recently dumped the APC.
“I am not surprised about this unholy cash inducements to lawmakers to do a dirty job because the Presidency and the APC recently conducted a dressed rehearsal of an inducement heist in Ekiti State during the ‘see and buy votes saga’ with which they allegedly rigged the Ekiti Governorship election in favour of the APC,” he said.
He however warned the presidency and the APC to desist from their present plot to illegally remove Saraki, Dogara and affected Governors, it may lead to chaos and anarchy capable of truncating democracy in the country.
He said: “Let me warn the Presidency and the leadership of the APC to desist from their present desperate plot to bribe some Federal and State legislators so as to force the illegal removal of Saraki, Dogara and Governors that recently dumped the APC.
“Let me also urge APC lawmakers to be circumspect about this unholy transaction as they will be risking the wrath of Nigerians should they yield to the inducements and attempt the illegality for which they are now being primed with loads of cash.
“Is it not curious that this illegal cash bazaar is being clandestinely orchestrated by a government that has visited untold hardship on Nigerians in the last three years?” he queried.
He pleaded with the international community to call the President and the leadership of the APC to order and also to prevail on them to stop their plan to illegally use state funds to truncate the nation’s democracy.
“I also want Nigerians and members of the international community to jointly hold the presidency and the leadership of the APC responsible for any unintended consequences of their present action aimed at removing the leadership of the National Assembly and governors who recently switched allegiances from the APC to the opposition PDP,” Frank said.
He further urged the APC lawmakers to reject such “blood money” aimed at violating their consciences and lowering their integrity, while calling on Nigerians to be extra vigilant in order to frustrate the current efforts of the Presidency and the APC to instigate chaos and anarchy in the National Assembly and some State Houses of Assembly, capable of truncating democracy in Nigeria.
