Public affairs analyst, Mahdi Shehu, has accused the National Assembly of engaging in a politically motivated and hypocritical probe over the $460 million Chinese loan obtained by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration for the Abuja Metropolitan Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) project.
In a strongly worded post shared on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Thursday night, Shehu described the lawmakers’ decision to reopen investigations into the decade-old project as “a desperate exercise in futility” and “an attempt to dance naked in the marketplace while angels are cursing the dancers.”
He argued that the probe was part of a wider political campaign to discredit Jonathan ahead of the 2027 elections, calling it a “shameless and unintelligent venture into dirty, smelly, murky waters.”
“Jonathan has suddenly become an enemy that must be destroyed, restrained, or intimidated because of 2027 — a year where nobody even has the guarantee to reach,” Shehu wrote.
Shehu maintained that the CCTV loan, signed during Jonathan’s tenure, was properly processed and approved by the National Assembly at the time — unlike several loans obtained by later administrations without legislative scrutiny.
He argued that the probe was misplaced, as the loan underwent all necessary legislative and financial approvals before it was implemented.
Comparing debt levels across administrations, Shehu noted that Jonathan left behind a national debt of about ₦12 trillion, while former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration raised the figure to ₦77 trillion. According to him, the current administration under President Bola Tinubu has reportedly borrowed over ₦144 trillion, and “is still counting.”
“Unlike Buhari’s and Tinubu’s excruciating loan jamboree, Jonathan’s CCTV loan was subjected to legislative processes and duly approved by the National Assembly,” Shehu stated.
The outspoken commentator accused the National Assembly of selective investigations and double standards, claiming lawmakers have ignored more questionable financial activities by previous and current governments.
He said, “If the National Assembly has any sense of investigative decency, they should be probing Buhari’s ₦30 trillion ‘Ways and Means’ loan obtained in absolute secrecy and defended by the rubber stamp Senate of that regime.”
Shehu further questioned why there has been no investigation into what he described as Tinubu’s “convenient loans,” which he claimed have risen to nearly ₦150 trillion, or into the alleged ₦7 trillion 2025 budget padding and ₦10.5 trillion constituency projects that reportedly yielded no results.
He also mentioned the alleged ₦210 trillion unaccounted proceeds from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) between 2017 and 2023, and the $7 billion meant for refinery repairs which, according to him, “vanished without a trace.”
“Just last week, the Finance Minister claimed they distributed ₦330 billion to vulnerable groups with no single verifiable evidence,” Shehu wrote. “Yet, the National Assembly stood on ‘his mandate’.”
Shehu criticised lawmakers for ignoring the economic hardship and rising poverty in the country while focusing on what he described as politically motivated investigations.
“Currently, 139 million Nigerians are living in squalor and abject poverty, with 39 million malnourished children and 69 million out-of-school children, while university lecturers and doctors are on strike,” he said. “But none of these concerns interest the National Assembly to probe.”
The commentator lamented that the political class had failed to address the suffering of ordinary Nigerians, saying their misplaced priorities were deepening public frustration.
“All these victims of injustice are praying daily, and the day their prayers are answered will be the day of regret — at a time when regret has no value,” he warned.
Shehu also called on the National Assembly to revisit the findings of former Anambra State Secretary to the Government, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, who reportedly investigated alleged irregularities at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying Nigerians were still waiting for a public hearing on those revelations.
The Abuja CCTV project was initiated during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration around 2010, with funding from a $460 million Chinese loan obtained from the Exim Bank of China. The project was designed to improve security surveillance across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), but it has faced criticism over alleged non-functionality despite the huge investment.
The House of Representatives recently announced plans to reopen investigations into the loan, questioning the implementation and effectiveness of the CCTV infrastructure.
