How Jonathan awarded N24b railway contract to car wash company – APC Campaign

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation has reiterated that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration lacks the capacity or moral courage to fight corruption and cannot therefore be trusted to govern Nigeria again.

The campaign said in a statement issued by its Directorate of Media and Publicity in Abuja on Monday that a government with a notorious record of indifference to corruption should not be taken seriously to fight corruption.

Citing the Nigerian Railway Corporation, which it alleged is creaking under the weight of corruption, the statement wondered how the so-called success story of the Railway Corporation could be sustained under the influence of corruption.

The statement alleged that a car wash company with no experience in railway construction was awarded a railway rehabilitation contract at N24 billion.

It also mentioned another case of N44 billion consultancy contract awarded at N488 billion and jacked up by N2 billion overnight.

The APCPCO disclosed that despite repeated petitions, which were investigated and confirmed by the Department of State Service, corruption and inflation of contracts continues to grow unabated at the railway corporation.

According to the APCPCO, most of the individuals involved these shady deals cannot be touched because of their connection to powerful people in the Presidential Villa.

The statement alleged that the Managing Director, Adeseyi Sijuwade, of the Railway Corporation has become so powerful that he boasted to Board Members that any of them fighting him “are fighting the First Lady”.

Suspecting that the Board Members were behind the DSS investigation, the statement accused the Managing Director of using his alleged connection to the First Lady to award contracts without due process and intimidate Board Members with impunity.

The APC presidential campaign noted that with this level of corruption and impunity at the Railway Corporation, it would be difficult for the Jonathan administration to convince Nigerians it has the will or the capacity to rid Nigeria of the scourge of corruption.

According to the statement, only in a country like Nigeria would a security agency indict a department of government of corruption and the government of the day would ignore the report.

The statement also reminded the Jonathan administration that it could not fight corruption by shielding corrupt people from prosecution, a situation, which it said, might embolden crooks to ruin the country with impunity