The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives on Thursday, asked the President, Major General  Muhammadu Buhari (retd.),  to stop the payment of $418m “suspicious judgment debt.”

The legislators objection was contained in a statement by their leader, Ndudi Elumelu, titled, ‘Reps Minority Caucus back governors, demands probe into $418m judgement debts.”

The Minority caucus urged Buhari to note that the consent judgement being relied upon for the payment was “cloudy, opaque and raises apprehensions of huge swindle on the national treasure.”

The caucus insisted that the presidential approval, “requires immediate investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission”

The lawmakers, therefore, called on the  President, to, in the national interest, immediately halt the payment processes until after the investigations.

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Part of the statement read, “The caucus insists that the objection raised by the Association of Local Governments in Nigeria and the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, in calling for forensic audit into the claims by the creditors, must be taken into consideration.

“This is essentially because governance is a collective responsibility of all tiers and as such all views must be considered before such decisions are reached and implemented.

“As lawmakers, our caucus insists that the approval to funnel out $418m out of the national treasure under such hazy consent judgment and in the absence of the forensic audit, smacks of an endorsement of corruption.”

The lawmakers added that the “Attorney General and Minister of Justice should avail himself of the audit to bring the processes and circumstances surrounding the judgment debt to public glare.

“The caucus maintains that the open audit should unravel those behind the consent judgment, the propriety of such measures. as well as why the objection by the governors was ignored.”