Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has queried President
\nMuhammadu Buhari\u2019s approval of $1 billion for the procurement of
\nsecurity equipment to fight Boko Haram insurgency, describing it as
\n\u201cpooling of public funds for the purpose of funding President Buhari\u2019s
\nreelection as well as the coming governorship elections in Ekiti and
\nOsun States.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor demanded to know whether or not the $1 billion was from
\nthe Excess Crude Account (ECA), adding that; \u201cit will be illegal and
\nagainst the principle of federalism that operates in Nigeria for the
\nPresident, who is the head of just one of the federating units to
\napprove spending of fund belonging to the three tiers of government
\nwithout the consent of heads of other federating units.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, and signed by his
\nSpecial Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere
\nOlayinka, Governor Fayose asked; \u201cWhen did the National Assembly
\napprove the spending of the $1 billion? Or can the President spend $1
\nbillion belonging to Nigerians without the approval of the National
\nAssembly?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said \u201cNigerians required explanations from the federal government
\nas to where the $1 billion will be sourced because the President
\nlacked power to unilaterally spend money from the Excess Crude
\nAccount. Not even when there is a pending suit by Ekiti State Local
\nCouncil Chairmen, challenging the powers the 36 state governors to
\npurportedly execute the constitutional duty of the Federal government
\nwithout the their consent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother question the federal government must answer is; which
\ninsurgency are they buying arms worth N370 billion to fight? Is it the
\nsame Boko Haram that they told Nigerians they completely defeated?<\/p>\n
\u201cSince they said they have defeated Boko Haram, and later told
\nNigerians that they had ceasefire agreement with the insurgents, what
\nelse do they need a whopping sum of $1 billion (over N370 billion)
\nfor; if not to fund the 2019 elections?<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, up till now, the government is yet to give satisfactory
\nexplanations as to the abduction and return of the Dapchi School
\nGirls. With the hurried approval of $1 billion, is it not being
\nreinforced that the Boko Haram insurgency has become a source of
\nlooting public fund by this government?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is on record that Transparency International (TI) once said in its
\nreport that some top military officials in the country were feeding
\nfat from the war against Boko Haram by creating fake contracts and
\nlaundering the proceeds in the United States, United Kingdom and
\nelsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor reiterated his challenge to the federal government to
\nmake available to Nigerians, how the money released by international
\ndonors for the fight against Boko Haram was spent.<\/p>\n
He said; \u201cLike I have maintained, they are building a very huge
\nfinancial war chest towards the 2019 elections and our treasury is
\ndaily being looted to achieve this. One of such means is the $1
\nbillion approved by the President, purportedly for the procurement of
\narms to fight a Boko Haram insurgency they claimed to have defeated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has queried President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s approval of $1 billion for the procurement of security equipment to fight Boko Haram insurgency, describing it as \u201cpooling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n