• Finance ministry speaks today

From Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti and Uche Usim, Abuja

Ekiti Governor, Ayodele Fayose, yesterday, raised the alarm that the Federal Government has seized its monthly federal allocation and budget support for the state for January. .

The governor alleged it was a deliberate attempt to fight him politically and give the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti soft landing in the 2018 gubernatorial poll in the state.

Governor Fayose also alleged that the federal government has deployed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to frustrate his ongoing projects through alleged frivolous petitions. This was just as the state’s Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ade Adesanmi, urged the federal government to desist from deploying alleged political machinations/manipulations to fight perceived enemies of the government at the expense of innocent civil servants who have families, children and sundry responsibilities to cater for.

Fayose, at a press conference at Government House, Ado-Ekiti, said: “It is unavoidably necessary to bring to the public domain the current harassment, oppression and intimidation of my office and the people of Ekiti State by the federal government because of my stand on national issues.

“In the last three, four weeks, after the Federal Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) meeting, it is sad that Ekiti federal allocation for January has not been released.

“Also, the budget support, for which, all states in Nigeria signed an ISPO, Ekiti remains the only state not paid for January. And, it seems this is deliberate because, up till now, no excuse or explanation has been given. I have written to the Federal Ministry of Finance, my commissioner has been there, as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria, yet, nobody is ready to talk to us. We contacted the minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, all the directors at the Ministry of Finance everybody are shying away from talking to us, for the last 10 days now.

“It is important to note that the allocation and budget support from Abuja is our legitimate right. We have done the needful on our part and nobody from their end has queried the process. I don’t know why the average civil servant in Ekiti should be made to suffer because of politics; it is not my salary, it is the salary of Ekiti civil servants.

“Doing this in the name of politics and to destabilise this state is not in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am reminding them and speaking to Nigerians that the statutory allocation for local governments in Lagos State was stopped, then, by the federal government during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration and it was fought until the money was paid. I think we have gone past that kind of episode.”

Fayose appealed to the federal government to release funds meant for the suffering workers in Ekiti. “I want to appeal to the government, I want to appeal to the Ministry of Finance, not to allow themselves to be used to oppress Ekiti civil servants. This state has been running peacefully well, supporting me. If this is a political attempt to cause chaos in the state, it will not stand. I will not also be cowed from saying the truth.”

Asked to react to Fayose’s allegations, Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Finance, Salisu Dambatta said “such information can only be given by the Director of Press, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF). I suggest you reach out to them.” 

On his part, the minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Festus Akanbi, said he had no information on the matter. He referred Daily Sun to “the Director of Press” in the ministry. “I don’t have that information,” he insisted. 

However, Director of Press in the AGF’s office, Mrs Kene Ofie said she would only talk today. “There are 36 states and the FCT and, I don’t have records of monies disbursed to them in my head. So, if you want information on Ekiti state, come formally; come during office hours. You can come tomorrow morning. This is not office hours. I work for government and there are procedures,” she said.