Governor Ayodele Fayose
of Ekiti State has raised the alarm over the approval by President Muhammadu
Buhari of $1 billion for the procurement of security equipment to fight Boko
Haram insurgency, saying it was rather for the conduct of the 2019 election.
Fayose in a
statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere
Olayinka, on Wednesday, alleged that “it as a pooling of public funds for the
purpose of funding President Buhari’s reelection as well as the coming
governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States.”
The governor demanded to
know whether or not the $1 billion was from the Excess Crude Account (ECA),
saying “it will be illegal and against the principle of federalism that
operates in Nigeria for the President, who is the head of just one of the
federating units to approve spending of fund belonging to the three tiers of
government without the consent of heads of other federating units.”
Governor
Fayose asked: “When did the National Assembly approve the spending of the $1
billion? Or can the President spend $1 billion belonging to Nigerians without
the approval of the National Assembly?”
He said “Nigerians required explanations from the federal government as
to where the $1 billion will be sourced because the President lacked the power
to unilaterally spend money from the Excess Crude Account. Not even when there
is a pending suit by Ekiti State Local Council Chairmen, challenging the powers
the 36 state governors to purportedly execute the constitutional duty of the
Federal government without their consent.”
- Tribune
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