Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, for the 2023 general election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has said 80 per cent of the country’s crude oil were being stolen with the connivance and quietude of state governors in Niger Delta, adding that the party was out to end the nightmares of the oil rich region.
Speaking with newsmen after commissioning the SDP Campaign Office around Egborode town near Warri, Delta State, Adebayo said resources were being leaked by Niger Delta people, reiterating that the liberation of Nigeria must start from the region.
Flanked by the gubernatorial candidate of the party in the state, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, Adebayo said: “As l am talking to you, there are people stealing billions of dollars worth of oil. I am not saying injustice of the past but continuous robbery on-going now.
“For the past five months, l have been shouting that 80 per cent of our crude oil is being stolen. Why am I shouting? I am shouting because that is the money that can make a Dubai out of every city in Nigeria that is being stolen by the government elected into office and it is being stolen with the connivance and quietude of the governors, who are from Niger Delta, who go to Federal Executive Council and Federal Allocation Committee and come back to tell you that NNPC has no money but the governors have wads of dollars in their offices.
“So, they are stealing the wealth, robbing the poor. So, what kind of justice are you talking about:? As l am talking, if the Nigerian government wants to stop $4.4 billion from being stolen this month, it can take the decision now.
“The problems of Nigeria are not external, they are not natural, they are not structural. The government itself is the problem because, for everything that you cry about that makes you to gnash your teeth and shed tears, people in government are making money out of it and government has become callous.
“All the problems, whether it is insecurity, economic meltdown and if you ask me, l cannot immediately mention names. Whether your currency is disappearing into digits, it is because people in government are stealing money. So, once we come in, we will remove the thieves. You need to run government with clean people.
“What is expected of the SDP is to find a pathway for Nigerians, who are as you can see from the President himself to the ordinary man seems to be at a loss as to why the country is adrift.
“The job of the SDP is to find a pathway to give the country hope that is based plans and find answers to the problem of insecurity, poverty, backwardness and to give the people a sense of unity of purpose, so that we can begin a journey that we were supposed to start 30 years long ago when we said farewell to poverty.”