The All Progressives
Congress in Ekiti State has told Governor Ayodele Fayose to stop playing pranks
to avoid the scrutiny of the Senate Committee
on Local Governments in the
disbursement of the
bailout cash approved to the state by the Federal Government.
The APC said the
bailout was different from the regular federal allocation that could not be
monitored by the allocating authority.
It added that the
governor could not hide under the Constitution to abuse a special intervention
scheme that specifically insisted on a set of rules for strict application of
the funds for the purpose for which it was approved.
Fayose had sent a
letter to the National Assembly, citing separation of power and independence of
the state in the appropriation and application of federal funds allocated to
the state governments.
But the state APC
Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said in a statement on Thursday that
Fayose was playing with facts and the law to avoid scrutiny on how he spent the
special funds specifically approved to pay backlog of salaries, pensions and
other entitlements to former political office holders.
He said the
governor’s “recalcitrant action” was a confirmation of the party’s earlier
allegation that he had misappropriated the fund.
Olatunbosun said,
“Fayose cannot pretend that he did not know that the Federal Government
attached certain terms and conditions to the bailout before he collected it and
we wonder why a governor that agreed to the terms is now refusing to explain
how he spent the money to establish transparency in the application of such
terms.
“The bailout is like
taking a bond that is programme-specific and Fayose knew this before he took
the bailout and we wonder why he is now behaving as if the bailout is a Father
Christmas gift that doesn’t require accountability.
“It is now glaring
that Fayose has many things to hide, as we had on several occasions cried that
he had diverted the bailout to his private pocket instead of using it to pay
salaries as the main condition attached to the loan.”
“He conceded that
the House of Assembly had oversight functions over statutory allocations,
explaining, however, that the bailout
was a dedicated fund approved by the National Assembly for the Central
Bank of Nigeria to disburse to states owing their workers.
“Since the National
Assembly has oversight functions on the CBN and other federal agencies, it
follows, therefore, that it can monitor how the bailout is spent by asking
questions.
“In fact, one of the
conditions attached to the disbursement of the bailout is that its disbursement
by benefitting states shall be monitored
by the CBN and this means the National
Assembly can also monitor,” he explained.Punch
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