A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele has said the $2.1 billion arms scandal has damaged the reputation of Nigeria in the eyes of the international community.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain described the unfolding revelations on the alleged diversion of arms funds by key figures of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as “very embarrassing and breach of public trust”.
Bamidele expressed these views in a statement issued in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital on Sunday by his media aide, Ahmed Salami, congratulating a former Senator representing Ekiti Central, Babafemi Ojudu, on his appointment as Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Political Matters.
He, however, tasked political office holders under President Buhari to render selfless service to the nation and not to loot the treasury like some officials of the immediate past administration.
He also urged government officials to be conscious of the fact that “Nigerians voted for Buhari based on his enviable anti-corruption credentials”, warning them not to betray the confidence reposed in them.
According to the Labour Party governorship candidate in the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti, Nigerians are anxiously looking up to Buhari’s government to clean up the already debased system and bring the needed renaissance in the areas of the economy and morality, for Nigerians to rise again and regain its lost glory.
He said: “One cannot but feel ashamed as a Nigerian about the information on how public official shares money running into billions of naira to political associates as a show of patronage. One could only feel the enormity of damage this has done to our corporate image if you travel out of Nigeria.
“This is highly embarrassing to all of us and I personally feel disappointed as a patriotic Nigerian”.
