The Action Democratic Party (ADP) has kicked against the move by the federal government to refund the Kogi state government with the sum of N10bn.
In the letter seeking for the Senate approval, President Muhammadu Buhari said the sum was a refund to Kogi State government for projects it executed on behalf of the federal government.
President Buhari further disclosed that the money when approved would be utilised by the state government to settle local debts it had incurred following the execution of those projects on behalf of the Federal Government.
Addressing newsmen on Wednesday, national chairman of the ADP, Engineer Yabagi Yusuf Sani claimed the money was meant to empower the incumbent governor and All Progressives Congress candidate in the November 16 governorship election, Yahaya Bello.
He accused the Buhari administration of a lack of transparency in the disbursement of public fund.
He said: “Kogi issue is daylight robbery. This government doesn’t emphasise accountability. There is an agency that supervises allocation to each tier of government, it is the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission. It is even above the Presidency because they determine what the president earns. It is the beginning of the rigging of November election and it has to stop.”
The ADP chairman advised Nigerians to be vigilant and be prepared to ask questions on how the public fund was being frittered by the administration that professed to be fighting corruption.
“I am calling on Mr President to fast track the economy. All these kidnappers, terrorists get their footsoldiers from unemployed youths. The youths must take their destiny in their hands and get the government accountable by asking questions: How much are we making from crude oil, how much crude oil are we producing on a daily basis?
” I am not calling for violence, but we can and must ask questions. We can check crude oil theft quickly, we don’t have the time, we must catch up with the rest of the world. The oil must be put to judicious use because it isn’t going to be there forever.
“We are passing through a phase. Nigeria is very strong in terms of economic fundamentals. All we need is to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. We need leaders that are informed and can engage other world leaders.
What we have is lack of planning, the right leadership. The issue of insecurity, lack of food can be attributed to the lacklustre leadership. You are in government to be able to provide for the citizens.
” Unless Nigerians start to ask questions that will probe their conscience, this rot will continue to fester. That’s how changes take place in other countries but if you keep quiet, it won’t change.”
The ADP chairman also expressed concern over the debt profile under the present administration as he noted that it could be a disincentive to foreign investors.
“How do you grow the GDP of the economy with the huge debt and allocation to debt servicing? You take jumbo loans and you aren’t growing the economy. They need to slow down on piling up debt unnecessarily so that the investment world won’t declare Nigeria as a risky place to do business. ”
Reacting to remarks attributed to the Chairman Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral commission, Senator Kabiru Gaya that his Committee would push for delisting of certain political parties, Engineer Sani said the Constitution has empowered the electoral body to instil sanity in the electoral process. He, however, admonished INEC to be fair while exercising its powers.
” It is unfortunate. The Constitution didn’t say you can deregister in black and white but it has empowered an agency, the INEC to enforce its stipulation if an association it wants to register doesn’t meet the regulations. But I don’t have objection, but the Constitution makes provision for fairness. What INEC needs to do is to make registration stringent and make existence stringent.
But the same INEC must be conscious that the level playing ground isn’t there. The opposition parties don’t have tradermoni and even when we win, INEC often declared results inconclusive.”
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