Former education minister under president Olusegun Obasanjo, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili may have opened her own can of worms when she alleged that the governments of presidents Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan squandered $67 billion in foreign reserve.
In response to Ezekwesili’s statement, the Federal Government not only said her allegations were “outlandish and clearly fictitious”, but queried her tenure as education minister where she received N458.1 billion between 2006 and 2007 and yet nothing to show in terms of achievements.
The government also referred to her statement on the decay in education sector as “self-indictment” and hypocritical, wondering why she suddenly has solution to the problem facing the sector after she left office yet failed to do so while in office.
According to Information minister, Labaran Maku “We also found Mrs. Ezekwesili’s interrogation of the educational system somewhat disingenuous and borderline hypocritical. During her tenure as Minister of Education between 2006 and 2007, she collected total sum of N352.3 billion from direct budgetary releases. In addition, she received about N65.8 billion under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Fund, and over N40 billion from the Education Trust Fund (ETF) during her time as Minister of Education.”
Through Ahmed el-Rufai, the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the embattled Ezekwesili acquired 10 choice properties in Abuja.
According to our source, this is in addition to a five hectares of land which she corruptly acquired for the purpose of going into estate business, only to convert it to a church for her husband.
The former minister is also being accused of using her ill-gotten wealth while in office to acquire capital shares in Telecommunication giant, Airtel Nigeria limited, worth several hundreds of millions of naira.
The government, the source revealed, has enough evidence that Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili chooses to slander the President Goodluck Jonathan’s government because of her ambition to run for the position of a Vice President, by serving as a running mate to the presidential aspirant of the Congress For Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2015 general election.
The ex-World Bank Vice President for Africa is also being accused by the Nigeria Government of working for some foreign interest against Nigeria, listing her membership of the George Soros Foundation. as one of the numerous unpatriotic sharp practices against the country.
Adddresing the media in Abuja sunday , Maku, in company of the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, Economic Adviser, Prof. Nwanze Okedegbo and Special Adviser on Performance Monitoring, Prof. Sylvester Monye, said the allegations of Ezekwesili were curious in the light of the fact that she has been part of governance in the past as well as the Vice President of World Bank.
The government’s spokesman on the decay of education said, “If she says education has not worked it means she is saying she did not work”, he noted.
Maku said the federal government rather than focus on the motive of Mrs. Ezekwesili’s allegations, it will state the facts to Nigerians.
Maku said the former Education minister betrayed a surprisingly limited understanding of government finances in her comments at Nsukka