The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) has condemned the Eco­nomic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC’s) choice of for­mer governor Adams Oshiomhole as a guest speaker at a National Anti-corruption Stake­holders’ Summit.
The party said that the commission’s action showed that Nigeria has not started in its fight against corruption.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by the state PDP Publicity Secre­tary, Mr Chris Osa Ne­hikhare, the party said that the EFCC’s invi­tation to Oshiomhole was akin to inviting the “devil to give a talk on holiness and sainthood.”
Nehikhare alleged that Oshiomhole has over 15 pending peti­tions of mass looting of the state treasury which are known to the EFCC.
He said that the for­mer governor’s invitation to the seminar came at a time Oshiomhole report­edly boasted that noth­ing would come out of the petitions because of his personal relationship with the embattled EFCC Acting Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Magu and APC-led Federal Government.
According to him, “this invitation at this time is indeed very curious!”
Nehikhare said: “Edo people and indeed Ni­gerians are watching this drama with great trepida­tion. We challenge Os­hiomhole’s conscience and moral right to speak on an anti-corruption platform of any kind. Oshiomhole has till this moment not told Edo people about the $54 mil­lion he collected from the Federal Government in December 2014. It is al­leged that he pocketed that money. Edo people and Nigerians only got to hear of that money because the Nigerian National Petroleum Cor­poration (NNPC) books were audited.