The Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has described the N-Power programme of the Buhari government as “propaganda”.

Abaribe, who doubles as Chairman, South-East caucus in the Senate,

also declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will return to power in 2019.

In a chat with Vanguard, Abaribe said Nigerians should not be excited about the N-Power scheme.​

”​Where have they given it? I have not seen any youth. I have sent people from my own senatorial zone for them to show me where they have taken any of them​”, he said.

“It is nothing but propaganda that we simply see and bogus claims that we also always see from this government,​” he added.​

On 2019 general elections, the lawmaker stressed that the PDP “will take over power in 2019. And we have worked out all our strategies and you are going to see it emerge and be fulfilled very soon.​”​

On the controversy trailing the $1 billion approval by the National Economic Council, NEC, to tackle insecurity in the North-East

, Abaribe assured that the legislature will continue

to support and fund the armed forces.

He, however, raised some questions about the fund.

”Where did the governors derive the power to appropriate money? There is nowhere in the constitution where governors have the power to appropriate money.

”​And that’s where the problem lies. Where did they get this power from? That it is just an illegal thing. And if the governors claim that the money belongs to the three tiers of government, so, how did the governors now become the people to appropriate for the federal government and Local governments’ shares?

”​I think what is just going on is simply the same we have always seen in Nigeria where people perpetuate impunity and because they are in the ruling party, people don’t want to admit that they have gone the wrong way.”​

I heard the vice president say the other day ‘it is no longer for the northeast alone’. But of course, when governor Obaseki was speaking, we heard him very clearly say, it is to fight Boko Haram.

”​That they are now trying to run away from that and extend it to all over the place just tells you that the initial concept was very flawed and they are just realizing it but of course, cannot come out and tell Nigerian we are wrong, let us now do the right thing​”, he stated.

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