Posted by CELESTINE IHEJIRIKA, Jalingo on
THE last may not have been heard of the Paris Club debt cancellation deal with Nigeria as the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party....
THE last may not have been heard of the Paris Club debt cancellation deal with Nigeria as the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Audu Ogbeh, has alleged that a top administration official collected N60 billion as commission in the transaction.
Addressing the Taraba State chapter of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) in Jalingo, Ogbeh, who is now the chairman of the ACD Board of Trustees, pointed the finger at the presidency over the commission matter.
The House of Representatives had, while probing the controversy over the debt cancellation commission, asked for who or which firm collected the commission paid by Nigeria from top officials of the Ministry of Finance.
The House could, however, not extract the information from the ministry or the presidency until it closed its session for this year. Chief Ogbeh, who also did not name the said official, however, urged Nigerians to remain calm as he would reveal the name of the top official at the right time.
The ACD chieftain, who has been launching various state chapters of the party in the North and South, appealed to Nigerians to vote for change in 2007.
According to him, the uneasy calm in the country was a fall-out of the failed third term bid, affirming that the main reason behind the plot to alter the nation's constitution was selfish desire to retain power.
He accused the Federal Government of wasting several billions of naira to pursue the third term bid, wondering why such a huge amount could not be utilised to generate employment and alleviate poverty.
All efforts to get the reaction of the Information Minister, Mr. Frank Nweke, failed as he refused to respond to calls from the Nigerian Tribune.
At one point, the Information Minister picked the calls but refused to speak when the Nigerian Tribune correspondent introduced himself. Both Mr. Nweke and the president's spokesman, Mrs. Remi Oyo, were subsequently sent three text messages to which they did not react as at the time of going to press.