—-Warns president against making negative statements about Nigeria in Washington
By Kemi Yesufu
Ekiti Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has accused President Muhammadu Buhari and governors elected under the All Progressives Congress (APC) of approving $1 billion for defense expenditure, without the backing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking during the Sunday Politics programme on Channels TV, monitored by Frontline News Online, Fayose insisted that governors belonging to the PDP were kept in the dark on the matter.
The governor who wondered why the Federal Government needs such a huge amount of money for defence and security after declaring Boko Haram technically defeated, said it was wrong for the Federal Government to make the important decision of taking money from the Excess Crude Account without the consent of all the governors.
He also reiterated his position that the Excess Crude Account (ECA) is illegal and all monies accruing to the Federal Government should be kept in the Federation Account and shared to the three tiers of government.
The $1 billion expenditure for defence has continued to generate controversy with the National Assembly accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of committing an impeachable offence by approving the release of $496, 374, 470 million (N151, 394, 421, 335 billion) as part payment for the purchase of Super Tucano aircraft from the United States without its approval.
“We are not talking about N1 billion, but $1 billion which is N365 billion and that’s means in 365 days, we will spending one billion naira per day. This is strange.
” There is nothing extremely too much for security. But let me say, in a country where they told us so many hope-like things, like ‘we have defeated Boko Haram’… They’ve given us all the impression that they are on top of the issue.
“The budget is there already appropriated, without the this $1 billion. Where is all these money going? Recall very well , that Transparency International and many international organisations said majority of the contracts awarded in Nigeria by the military…. that the money find their way to accounts abroad.
“Let me answer the question you asked…majority of the PDP governors, of which I represent, have nothing to do with this ($1 billion) money”, Fayose said.
Also during the programme, the governor hit President Buhari hard, warning that he should be given a script to follow during his meeting with President Donald Trump.
According to him, the president has caused Nigerians embarrassment in past occasions when he made remarks such as his wife belonging to the “other room” and Nigerian youths lazily waiting for education , housing and healthcare to be provided to them.
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