The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to speed up corruption cases involving all former members of the party who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with pending Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) cases.
The party specifically mentioned the matter involving former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, as one that Buhari must personally ensure is not swept under the carpet now that he has joined the APC.
The opposition party in a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, and made available to journalists in Osogbo, said it is only diligent prosecution of all former members of PDP struggling with various allegations of graft, who have joined the ruling party, that would clear the insinuations that Buhari and his men had been using anti-graft agencies to intimidate opposition members to join APC.
Describing Fani-Kayode as a political liability, a social media politician, and a worthless catch for APC undeserving of celebration, the PDP said the former aviation minister is living on past glory of being a minister. adding that the Ife-born politician neither command any serious following, nor have political base in Osun, his home state, or elsewhere in Nigeria.
The PDP also said in its records that Fani-Kayode was never a member of the party, as he has not identified with PDP in his Ile-Ife hometown or in Abuja where he resides.
The statement read in parts: “The opportunity is now there for President Buhari to show Nigerians that he is indeed fighting corruption.
“If for nothing else, now that Fani Kayode and all the other politicians that decamped from PDP to APC with EFCC cases, we expect him to swing into action on their corruption cases and ensure a more thorough prosecution.
“With that done, he will then convince Nigerians that those defectors were not pressured into joining APC so as to free them of EFCC cases. If truly he is fighting corruption, cases of someone like Fani-Kayode, alleged of embezzling almost N2billion meant for the construction runaway in Enugu airport, must now receive speedy trial.
“Since he has joined them now, they have no need looking around for him anymore because we believe that going to them will be an opportunity to speed up action on his case.
“We declare Fani-Kayode a political liability. We are not missing him in any way. He is not a card-carrying member of PDP because he didn’t register anywhere. He has no constituency, no electoral value, no followership; he is just living on the past glory of being a minister.
“We wish APC well for taking away a bad baggage that Fani-Kayode represents. Interestingly, APC members are even protesting against his coming to join their party.”
