Governor Fayose, Yari clash in Aso Rock over $1bn Boko Haram fund

 
Latest report as Opposition by some governors to the $1 billion proposed spending on the war against insurgency may cause a rift in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).
Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti and Abdul-Aziz Yari of Zamfara and Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum on Tuesday disagreed over the fund.
The NGF, at its last National Economic Council (NEC) meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, was alleged to have unanimously agreed to a withdrawal of $1 billion out of the $2.3 billion left in the Excess Crude Account for the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram.
But Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, who has already filed a case against the Federal Government, insisted he was never a party to the anti-insurgency deduction decision.
Fayose said the people of Ekiti State need their own share of the money to solve issues of hunger in the state.
“I am not in support of the $1 billion deduction and will never be in support.
“In my state, we have agreed to go to court to contest this.
“It is our legitimate right, all accruals to the federation must be shared by the three tiers of government, and for me to get justice I have to go to court,” he said.
Asked if the emergency meeting reached another consensus concerning the money, he said, “The issue was not discussed at all. But for me, I have taken appropriate steps because the money belongs to Ekiti people, not for any other use.”
Asked if he was canvassing for Ekiti State alone or the entire PDP states, he said he was less bothered about other states and restated that he was never in support of the proposed withdrawal.
“I am speaking for Ayo Fayose. With the PDP and the stakeholders, we have not met.
“I did not attend the meeting; even if I was part of the meeting, I would have made it expressly clear, but I will not support it.
“Every state has its own peculiarities in terms of security. Ekiti State has Hunger Haram, where hunger is ‘catching’ people everywhere.
“A lot of people are being kidnapped daily, whatever is in that money for me we should share it, let everybody go and solve his own problem.
“I have challenges and they should give me my money. It is Ekiti money.”
On whether this would have been a good platform to raise the issue, he replied, “May I say this to you, I filed the case in court as early as 12 noon today; if it was not listed as part of the meeting, how am I going to raise the issue. I have options and I have said it expressly, I have gone to court.”
On rumours that there was disagreement over the issue at this meeting, he said, “No, no, no. If it was one of the issues discussed, I would have said so. I am not a pretender, I won’t suffer in silence.”
NGF Chairman, Abdul-Aziz Yari, in his argument, described Fayose as speaking from a lone voice.
He insisted that majority of the NGF members took the decision, adding that withdrawals from excess crude account had been a norm.
He drew reference to the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan during which, he said, $2 billion was withdrawn from the ECA in 2014.
He said: “Gentlemen, this is democracy and each and every person has its own way to want to look at things and you cannot stop him from agitation.
“One, Nigeria Governors’ Forum discussed this issue at our November meeting and we agreed across party lines that this thing has been done in 2014 where $2 billion was taken in agreement with the governors at that meeting.
“Governor Akpabio was the one that moved the motion. This time we realised that there was a need to purchase equipment for the military, so we felt we should not compromise the issue of security for the entire country.
“We said, as governors, we agreed to forfeit $1 billion of our own share of excess crude which we are going to back up with state Assembly resolution at a later time.
“This is not the first time a decision like this is being taken; it happened during Jonathan’s era when they took $2 billion.
“We all agreed at that time collectively in the same chamber to withdraw $2 billion to procure equipment for the military, and also for logistics for the military because they were telling us, whether it was true or false, that our soldiers were being killed.
“Some came on the social media, saying that they were being killed like rats because they didn’t have the training and the equipment.
“That was what generated discussions at the same Chamber and there was no controversy, there was no opposition to the decision at that time.
“Secondly, there was this decision also under Yar’Adua’s time when they were sourcing funds for Niger Delta Power Holdings – they also took over N5 billion for power generation.
“We followed the same process to withdraw the money from the same account, and our respective Houses of Assembly confirmed the resolution.
“We shouldn’t play politics with the issue of national security.
“By the way, we at the Governors’ Forum, twelve members formed a quorum, at the time we took this decision we had 32 members in attendance, and there was no single opposition to the decision.
“If anybody has his own way that he wants things to go, we had the majority and there was no minority opinion at that meeting.
“We look at the country, Nigeria, first before any other issue; it is only when you have the country that you can have the politics.”
The meeting was also convened to deliberate with speakers of State Houses of Assembly on the ongoing effort to amend certain sections of the 1999 constitution.
FG Recants, Says $1bn Not For Boko Haram Fight Only
Meanwhile, the $1 billion recently approved by state governors for anti-insurgency war is also for the funding of other security operations, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has explained.
Osinbajo’s clarification came amidst scorching criticisms against the Federal Government’s decision to appropriate so much money for its anti-insurgency campaigns.
The government had claimed that it had degraded Boko Haram.
Some commentators speculated that the fund was actually intended to finance the ruling All Progressives Congress’ (APC) 2019 election campaigns.
However, Vice President Osinbajo said governors approved the money after a national security summit organised by the National Economic Council (NEC).
He explained that the money was not just for the North-East but also for the security architecture of the entire country and was agreed on by governors across party lines.
Osinbajo, who chairs NEC, gave the explanation at the opening of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation/Secretaries to State Governments’ retreat at the State House Conference Centre (Old Banquet Hall), Abuja.
“It was after a national security summit of the National Economic Council that governors at their forum decided to approve some money for national security,” Osinbajo said.
Osinbajo met with governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday night at his office before the Nigerian Governors’ Forum that held the same day.
The meeting which began at 7:30pm ended at about 8:45pm.
An official source said the meeting was a caucus meeting of the party convened to discuss how to arrive at a common position before they would proceed to the NGF meeting.
None of those present spoke to journalists on what the meeting was all about, nor did they disclose its outcome.
Ibrahim Dankwambo, Governor of Gombe State, told State House correspondents at the end of last week’s NEC meeting that the NGF had authorised the Federal Government to withdraw $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to fight insurgency.
The decision attracted criticisms from groups and individuals, including the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Regardless, Osinbajo pointed out that the decision followed a security summit hosted two months ago by the NEC, which was “crucial in understanding and dimensioning the security problems of the country and the weaknesses of our security architecture.”
According to him, the security summit examined issues of kidnapping, small arms trafficking, terrorist activities of Boko Haram in the North-East, clashes between herdsmen and farmers, and cattle rustling.
He said: “It was on account of the security summit that the governors at the Governors’ Forum subsequently decided that they would vote a certain sum of money, which has become somewhat controversial, the $1 billion, to assist the security architecture of the country.
“It was to assist all of the issues in the states, including policing in the states, community policing, all of the different security challenges that we have.
“It was after the security summit that the Governors’ Forum met across party lines, again I must add, in order to approve and to accept that this is what needed to be done to shore up our security architecture.”
Osinbajo said little would be achieved if relevant state government agencies did not work with the Federal Government to achieve the country’s developmental objectives.
He said the role of the secretaries to the state governments “is clearly central to cascading the action points and conclusions of the MDAs in their states.”
He said all policies of the government of the federation in agriculture are programmes of the states since lands belong to the states.
“So, the agricultural policy of the federation is actually the agricultural policy of all of the states,” he stated, pointing out that the Federal Government controls no land outside of Abuja.
According to him, such agricultural policies of the Federal Government on fertiliser and the Anchor Borrowers Programme would not be successful without the states being part of them.
He said greater engagements between the SGF’s office and the SSGs would lead to better understanding of the management of the Ecological Funds and the National Emergency Management Agency, both of which are hosted by the office of the SGF.
Earlier in his welcome address, the SGF, Boss Mustapha, said the retreat was aimed at providing a forum where balance could be achieved to allow for full, effective, and efficient functioning of the state structure.
He said the office of the SSG was an important part of the executive arm of government in the states, which “plays the role of clearing and forwarding house of all government decisions, policies, and general administration.”
“It is, therefore, imperative that we strive to achieve synergy at this level of governance between the federal, state, and local government structures,” the SGF said.
He called for greater collaboration and interdependence between the federal and state governments irrespective of political party affiliations.