THE Federal Government has continued to receive attacks over the decision to take $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to prosecute the war against Boko Haram.
Some of the critics described the war as a cash cow from which some people are making money.Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday, had said the Governors’ Forum granted the concession to the Federal Government to support its efforts at tackling insurgency.
However, Dr Junaid Muhammed, a vocal northern political leader and a member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic, told Saturday Tribune that he was not bothered by the amount of money spent on the fight against the insurgent group, but that the protracted war appeared to have become a “cash cow” for some people.
Also reacting, the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere described approval of the $1 billion by the governors as “the foisting of the greatest heist on the country”, Nigerians having been told by the Federal Government that the Boko Haram group had been defeated.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekit State also disagreed with his Edo State counterpart as he claimed that he was not part of the governors who gave the approval and that the money was not meant for fighting Boko Haram, but to fund the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
Speaking with Saturday Tribune in a telephone conversation, Junaid Muhammed said contrary to the statements by some government officials that the Boko Haram group had been technically defeated, the truth was that the group remained a great threat to the country.
“Boko Haram has not been defeated. If the government chooses to lie, including President Muhammadu Buhari and Lai Muhammed (the Minister of Information) and tell us that Boko Haram has been technically defeated, the truth is that people are dying every day at the hands of this Boko Haram group.
“I am not bothered by the $1 billion approved to fight the insurgents. Whatever should be done to defeat this terrorist group must be supported by all of us. But the problem is that President Buhari seems not to be in charge.
“My problem has nothing to do with the $1bn approved from the Excess crude Account to fight Boko Haram. But it seems Boko Haram has been turned into a cash cow and some people and a crop of officers are making money from the insurgency. Whatever amount spent on the fight must be properly accounted for.
“There are problems between the EFCC and the SSS and there is no coordination at all and we don’t know who is in charge of all these security agencies. Buhari seems not to have the gut to call to order all these various security agencies,” he said.
In the same vein, the spokesman of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, told Saturday Tribune that the government was not sincere with Nigerians on the purpose the $1 billion was meant for, adding that the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai and the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had separately told Nigerians that the insurgent group had been defeated.
“Afenifere sees this as the greatest heist against the country and the worst robbery of the republic. We were told by this government that Boko Haram has been defeated.
“The Chief of Army Staff had a press conference in Borno recently where he claimed that the Army killed some Boko Haram suspects and a BBC journalist asked if they were not killing innocent people since they claimed Boko Haram had been defeated.
“So, where is the phantom terrorist they are going to fight with this fund that is more than the annual budget of many states in Nigeria? Besides, the slush account called ECA belongs to the three tiers of government, how can the Federal Government alone spend the money in it? Is the power of appropriation now with the National Economic Council (NEC) or still with the National Assembly?
“It is becoming increasingly unfortunate that some people may be exploiting the Boko Haram war to feather their nests. The president should convince Nigerians that the hope reposed in him to fight corruption in Nigeria is not a mirage by stopping this haemorrhage,” Afenifere said.
Also reacting, the Rivers State government said it smacked of doublespeak for the Federal Government to get an approval of $1 billion to prosecute its war against Boko Haram when it had once claimed to have defeated the group.
Speaking with Saturday Tribune on the issue, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Emma Okah, said it was strange for the Federal Government to get an approval for such a huge amount from the ECA to prosecute a war it claimed to have won.
“The Boko Haram insurgency is a Federal Government problem. The government had once claimed to have won the war, yet it is still going ahead to take such a large chunk of public money to fight same war.
“More importantly, since it is a Federal Government problem, the government should carry the burden, instead of spreading it over to the state governments. The state governments are still battling with the payment of salaries and their problems should not be further compounded,” he said.
Further clarifying the issue, the Osun State Commissioner for Information, Mr Adelani Baderinwa, told Saturday Tribune that the approved $1 billion from ECA had the support of the Governors’ Forum.
“It was a decision taken at the National Economic Council meeting. I am, however, not in any position to speak on what transpired there as my Oga (Governor Rauf Aregbesola) is not yet back and so, I don’t have the details,” he said.
Governor Fayose said the decision to withdraw $1 billion from ECA to fight Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East region was a means by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to fund President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election in 2019.
The governor, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said, “For posterity sake, I wish to place it on record that I was not among the governors who approved the withdrawal of almost half of our savings in the Excess Crude Account, which belongs to the three tiers of government to fight an already defeated insurgency.
“Since they said they have defeated Boko Haram, what else do they need a whopping sum of $1 billion (over N360 billion) for, if not to fund the 2019 elections?
“The APC promised to wipe out Boko Haram within six months, now it is 31 months and what the APC government is wiping out is the economy of Nigeria and the livelihood of the people”.
The governor said N360 billion was equivalent to what the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) share to the Federal Government, 36 states and 774 local councils monthly.
He noted that “Nigerians deserve proper explanations from the Federal Government on the rationale behind spending such huge sum of money to fight an already defeated Boko Haram.”
The governor also alleged that the N50 billion kept by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in different commercial bank accounts outside the Treasury Single Account (TSA) on the directive of President Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari was part of the fund being kept to fund President Buhari’s election in 2019.
Governor Fayose said, “Nigerians are alarmed by the revelation from the House of Representatives that President Buhari exempted NNPC from transferring N50 billion to the TSA and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), confirmation that a letter issued by the Chief of Staff (CoS) to the President, Abba Kyari, conveyed the directive.
$1bn for Boko Haram fight curious, alarming —PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in its reaction, said it had observed as curious and alarming, the decision of state governors to cede $1 billion of Excess Crude Account (ECA) to the Federal Government to fight insurgency in the North East.
The leading opposition party, in a statement issued in Abuja, on Friday, described the approval for the release of the money to the APC-led Federal Government under the guise of fighting insurgency in the North East as “curious and alarming”, pointing out that the terrorists had already been defeated, going by the government’s own proclamation.
The statement, signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the party was alarmed by “the manipulative plot by the APC administration to secure approvals without recourse to due process and for purposes of fighting the same insurgents it claimed to have since defeated.
The PDP also wondered why the Federal Government had to recourse to the National Economic Council (NEC), while “avoiding the direct constitutional appropriation channel of the National Assembly for funding of items already provided for in the federal budget if it actually has nothing to hide.
“The PDP supports the fight against insurgency. We hold our officers and men confronting the terrorists and securing our territorial integrity in high esteem, but we are concerned about the manipulative tendencies connected with the approvals as well as the veracity of claimed purpose of the fund.
“Nigerians will recall that the APC-led Federal Government had claimed that it has since defeated the insurgents. If it would take a billion dollar from a nation’s savings to kill what they long claimed dead, then we challenge the APC government to come clean and tell Nigerians the whole truth.
“The era of lies and propaganda is long gone and Nigerians now know the truth. The Federal Government must be held accountable and stopped from any move to fritter away our national savings.
“We, therefore, call on the National Assembly to interrogate this proposed disbursement and subject it to a thorough but rapid interrogation,” the statement said, as the party also noted that the development had rubbished the integrity of the current administration and demanded that it apologised to Nigerians for lying to them about the actual state of the fight against insurgency in Nigeria.
Comrade Kindness Jonah, Rights of Mankeep
In his own reaction, the national coordinator of the Rights of Mankeep, Comrade Kindness Jonah, said the approval of $1 billion by NEC for the government to fight Boko Haram is a misplacement of priority.
“It is a conduit pipe by the governors to do two things: fight secularisation of Nigeria, using the garb of terrorism, which is part and parcel of Islam, but which no Muslim can fight in real sense; and secondly to siphon money.
“To buttress the first point is to begin with a rhetorical question: who started Boko Haram and why did the same northern governors and Islamic leaders gang up against former Chief of Army of Staff for doing real job of crushing a Boko Haram?
“Therefore, the $1 billion earmarked for fighting Boko Haram is very illusory and an exercise in limbo because the crux of the matter is misplaced,” he said.
Mazi Ikeddy Okonkwo, leader of Igbo Youth Emancipation (IYE)
For Mazi Ikeddy Okonkwo, the leader of the Igbo Youth Emancipation (IYE), however, the approved fund would help in no small measure in tackling insurgency in the North.
“From all indications, the militant group, that is the Boko Haram, has continued to wax stronger in launching successful attacks against the military in Nigeria territory.
“So, I believe with more funding, the military can withstand the terrorist group and put an end to insurgency in the country. I have no quarrel with the $1b dollars approved by the NEC to fight Boko Haram, but my prayer is that the money should be used for what it is meant for,” he said.
Emmanuel Izomuwi, an Igbo activist
Emmanuel Izomuwi, an Igbo activist, said releasing money for procurement of military equipment to fight insurgency is not a bad idea, but he questioned the amount released in this case.
“I expected the Federal Government to be specific on what the money is meant for. We are aware that a former National Security Adviser (NSA) under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan is standing trial in court for alleged misappropriation of over $2 billion meant for fighting the same insurgency. Other prominent Nigerians are also being tried over their alleged complicity in the arms deal.
“Nigerians deserve to know what the money is meant for. If it is meant for procurement of aircraft or spent on training the soldiers fighting the insurgency or hi-tech military equipment, etc, they should let us know. You can see that Governor Ayodele Foyose of Ekiti State is already alleging that the money is meant for the re-election of Mr President.
“I expect the Federal Government to offer more explanations to Nigerians on the reason(s) for the approval of such colossal amount of $1bn, especially when we have been told several times that the insurgents have been defeated,” he added.
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