Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose
on Wednesday stormed the Ministry of Finance over the non payment of the
state's January budget support allocation of N1.1 billion.
This is even as former Aviation
Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode described the development as petty, vindictive and
reprehensible.
Addressing the media shortly after
storming the ministry, Fayose explained that his coming there was a follow
up of the alarm he raised on Tuesday about non-payment of his monthly
allocation and budget support.
"I believe I should do a follow
up today (yesterday) to meet with the Minister of Finance for an update, but
she actually called me on Tuesday that she just got back but going to look into
it today (yesterday) and have it resolved as soon as possible.
"You will however appreciate
that Ekiti civil servants are restive, having spent Christmas and there is no
money in January, obviously there will be challenges.
"By the time I got here the
Minister has already gone for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, but
I met the Special Adviser, who assured me that the matter will be resolved when
the Minister is back.
"What we are talking about is a
part of the monthly allocation and the budget support which is about
N1.1b that have not been paid.
"I believe this should be done
immediately and I want to believe also that it was a mix up and not political
but if it is political, they will have a lot of questions to answer why it
should be so.
"If they want to fight Fayose,
they should fight Fayose, not the civil servants of Ekiti, but I appreciate her
promptness and promise to resolve the matter."
Explaining that Ekiti is the only
state being owed January allocation, Fayose said, "It is only Ekiti
that is involved and this is the second time, that explains why I was
suspicious and have to act fast.
I got a text from the Central Bank
of Nigeia (CBN) that the money has been paid and later I learnt that there is a
withdrawal of that instruction that Ekiti was not included in the list out of
the entire Federation.
"So, naturally I have to be and
when it happened that it was just Ekiti State alone, I have to be suspicious.
The Minister has given me her word, at her level as a minister,
that is good enough.
"If the promise of the Minister
to resolve this issue as quickly as possible is not adhered to, I will have to
bring it back to the public domain. We are all in the court of the public
opinion where the public is able to judge whether justice is served at all
times.
Governance is beyond all of us but I
want to believe that they will do it."
Also reacting to the development,
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode said, "the federal government's refusal to release
the monthly allocation to the Ekiti State government is petty, vindictive and
reprehensible.
"Simply because the courageous
Ayo Fayose has become the rallying point of opposition against Muhammadu Buhari
does not mean that the people of Ekiti state should suffer.
"I call on Acting President Yemi
Osinbajo to intervene in this matter expeditiously and release the Ekiti State
government's allocation forthwith."
Tags
Politics