The recent
back and forth between Governor Adams Oshiomole of Edo State and the
former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-iweala continued on Monday,
July 13, 2015 as the latter responded to claims by the former Nigerian
Labour Congress (NLC) president that she spent $1 billion from the
Excess Crude Account (ECA) to fund the re-election campaign of former
President Goodluck Jonathan.
Speaking via a statement issued by her
Media Adviser Paul Nwabuikwu, Okonjo-Iweala said debunked his claims,
saying Oshiomole is suffering from ‘numerical diarrhea’.
The statement read: “The allegation by
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that former Minister of Finance
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account
to fund the re-election bid of former President Jonathan is the kind of
ludicrously false statement that has unfortunately become a trademark of
the Governor in his public campaign of falsehood against Dr
Okonjo-Iweala.
“The statement is just another example
of the numerical diarrhea that seems to have afflicted His Excellency in
recent times in his effort to damage the reputation of the former
Minister.
“He has, within the last few months,
asked Dr Okonjo-Iweala to explain all kinds of totally wild and
unsubstantiated figures, ranging from $30 billion, $20 billion, $2.1
billion, N720 billion and now $1 billion.
” Governor Oshiomhole’s published
comments also contain other falsehoods. For instance, he quoted Dr
Okonjo-Iweala as saying that she and the Finance Commissioners of the 36
states approved the spending of $2.1 billion out of the Excess Crude
Account, adding that the Commissioners had disowned the statement. This
is also a complete distortion.
“Dr Okonjo-Iweala never said the
Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) approved spending out of
the ECA. Rather as the Commissioners themselves stated, the former
Minister of State Finance informed them that former President Jonathan
approved the expenditure to end the debilitating fuel queues across the
country.
“As Nigerians know, the Finance Ministry
under Okonjo-Iweala regularly published details of revenue allocations
from the ECA in national media. So Oshiomhole’s tortured “calculations”
based on his “four figure tables” are mere political numbers conjured to
achieve a political purpose. Nigerians can see through the elaborate
antics.
“Governor Oshiomhole’s latest statement,
like earlier ones, labours to give the impression that the entire FAAC
process which involves the Federal Government and the 36 states of the
Federation is a personal monopoly of Dr Okonjo-Iweala.
“This is, of course not true. FAAC is a
long standing national platform for allocating revenues chaired by the
Minister of State Finance. The governor’s insistence on pushing this
clearly fictional narrative underscores his desperation.
“It is instructive that Governor
Oshiomhole is a key member of the committee set up by the National
Economic Council to investigate the ECA spending. His continuing attacks
against Dr Okonjo-Iweala seem to suggest that he has lost confidence in
this platform which he deployed to make some of his initial false and
baseless allegations. The Governor does not seem to appreciate that he
is undermining the very credibility of the committee.
“Once again, we ask: why are Oshiomhole
and his cohorts so ready to sacrifice truth, precedent and decency in
this political witch hunt against Dr Okonjo-Iweala? We are confident
that they will fail because truth will triumph.”
source TNP
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