The allegation by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that former
\nMinister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $1 billion out of the
\nExcess Crude Account to fund the re-election bid of former President
\nJonathan is the kind of ludicrously false statement that has unfortunately
\nbecome a trademark of the Governor in his public campaign of falsehood
\nagainst Dr Okonjo-Iweala.<\/p>\n
The statement is just another example of the numerical diarrhea that seems
\nto have afflicted His Excellency in recent times in his effort to damage
\nthe reputation of the former Minister.<\/p>\n
He has, within the last few months, asked Dr Okonjo-Iweala to explain all
\nkinds of totally wild and unsubstantiated figures, ranging from $30
\nbillion, $20 billion, $2.1 billion, N720 billion and now $1 billion.<\/p>\n
To say the obvious, the accusations are totally lacking in credibility.<\/p>\n
Governor Oshiomhole\u2019s published comments also contain other falsehoods.
\nFor instance, he quoted Dr Okonjo-Iweala as saying that she and the
\nFinance Commissioners of the 36 states approved the spending of $2.1
\nbillion out of the Excess Crude Account, adding that the Commissioners had
\ndisowned the statement. This is also a complete distortion.<\/p>\n
Dr Okonjo-Iweala never said the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee
\n(FAAC) approved spending out of the ECA. Rather as the Commissioners
\nthemselves stated, the former Minister of State Finance informed them that
\nformer President Jonathan approved the expenditure to end the debilitating
\nfuel queues across the country.<\/p>\n
As Nigerians know, the Finance Ministry under Okonjo-Iweala regularly
\npublished details of revenue allocations from the ECA in national media.
\nSo Oshiomhole\u2019s tortured \u201ccalculations\u201d based on his \u201cfour figure tables\u201d
\nare mere political numbers conjured to achieve a political purpose.
\nNigerians can see through the elaborate antics.<\/p>\n
Governor Oshiomhole\u2019s latest statement, like earlier ones, labours to give
\nthe impression that the entire FAAC process which involves the Federal
\nGovernment and the 36 states of the Federation is a personal monopoly of
\nDr Okonjo-Iweala.<\/p>\n
This is, of course not true. FAAC is a long standing national platform for
\nallocating revenues chaired by the Minister of State Finance. The
\ngovernor\u2019s insistence on pushing this clearly fictional narrative
\nunderscores his desperation.<\/p>\n
It is instructive that Governor Oshiomhole is a key member of the
\ncommittee set up by the National Economic Council to investigate the ECA
\nspending. His continuing attacks against Dr Okonjo-Iweala seem to suggest
\nthat he has lost confidence in this platform which he deployed to make
\nsome of his initial false and baseless allegations. The Governor does not
\nseem to appreciate that he is undermining the very credibility of the
\ncommittee.<\/p>\n
Once again, we ask: why are Oshiomhole and his cohorts so ready to
\nsacrifice truth, precedent and decency in this political witch hunt
\nagainst Dr Okonjo-Iweala?<\/p>\n
We are confident that they will fail because truth will triumph.<\/p>\n
Paul C Nwabuikwu
\nMedia Adviser to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The allegation by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that former Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account to fund the re-election…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n