PDP Slams Tinubu For Wasting Tax Payers’ Money On Mistresses, Cronies With 1,411 Delegates At COP28

The Peoples Democratic Party has protested against the President Bola Tinubu who led the federal government delegation to the Conference of the Parties, COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

The party accused the Tinubu of taking mistresses, cronies and others to the event.

It was reported that Nigeria attended the event with 1,411 delegates, the highest in Africa and third behind host nation UAE and Brazil in the World.

The large delegation to the event has received serious criticisms on social media with the conclusion that it’s wasteful.

Reacting in a statement released on Sunday, PDP spokesman, Debo Ologunagba queried what it said was “over bloated delegation” that was brimming with the president’s “cronies, political minions and their mistresses at huge expense to the nation.”

The PDP held that it “is a further validation that the Tinubu-led APC administration is wasteful, frivolous and reckless in the application of the scarce resources of the nation, especially at a time Nigerians are yearning for prudent management of resources to achieve the desired infrastructural regeneration, job creation and revamping of the economy.”

The party dismissed what it described as “the feeble attempt by the Presidency to rationalise the over-bloated delegation by trying to hide under genuine sub-national officials, businesses, journalists and Civil societies who are travelling at their own expense to cover the baggage of cronies, mistresses and other hangers-on associated with the Presidency who are reportedly attending at government’s expense and have no relevance whatsoever at the Conference.”

The statement noted that, “Our Party and all well-meaning Nigerians are appalled by the level of profligacy inherent in the APC administration whose actions and policies so far are skewed towards the promotion and institutionalisation of corruption.”

The party pointed out that the attempt to deceive Nigerians even when the list of the delegation is in the public domain, showed that the “APC administration is irredeemably depraved.”

The PDP asked “why would a country whose citizens are dying daily from inability to purchase necessities be willing to fritter its resources and scarce foreign exchange in such a manner?

“It only points to the fact that this administration is not interested in the good of the generality of our citizens but for a select few positioned to fleece the nation’s resources.

“Our Party challenges the Presidency to come clean by making public the names of the official delegation sponsored by the Federal Government to the Conference, the relevance of such individuals to the Conference and the total cost of such sponsorship on the nation.

“Of course, Nigerians have the list and they know the genuine officials of sub-national governments and other self-sponsored entities at the Conference.

The PDP called on the National Assembly, pursuant to its Constitutional duty under Section 88 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which empowers it to investigate and expose corruption by any organ of government, to immediately commence investigation into this embarrassing revelation and impose appropriate sanction on anyone or institution found culpable in that regard.

“Our Party also demands that President Tinubu should be ready to refund any Federal Government fund improperly spent to sponsor any individual who has no relevance at the Conference. Such funds should be channelled to projects that have direct bearing on the wellbeing of Nigerians,” the party added.