Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Muhammadu Buhari government of allegedly shortchanging the state government in the Paris Club refunds to the tune of $20million.
The party alleged that this was to weaken the Ayo Fayose administration and portray it in bad light to the advantage of APC governorship candidate, Kayode Fayemi.
PDP, in a statement by Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, said going by documents from the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Ekiti State was due to get $69million as the remaining part of the refunds, but had been reduced to $49million.
“We have it on good authority that the $20 million removed would be part of the funds to be used by the APC and Fayemi for the coming July 14 governorship election in the state.
“One wonders why the discrepancy in the figures. The consultant employed by the NGF came out with the initial figure and for no reason, the new figure we are hearing is being touted as the dues of the state,” he said.
Adebayo said that due to the fear that the expected donors to the campaign fund of Fayemi might not be forthcoming, the federal government had surreptitiously mutilated the documents bearing the exact figures due to the state and diverted the campaign funds in an attempt to foist Fayemi on Ekiti State.
“This is the reason behind the statement made by Fayemi that he would make use of logistics to win the governorship election come 14th July”, he added.
“The permutation in the Presidency is that if the Paris Club refunds get to Ekiti State before the election, it will be used to settle arrears of salary owed workers which will eventually be an added advantage for the PDP to actualise landslide victory as it recorded in 2014 when Fayemi was defeated in all the 16 local government areas of the state.
“It’s just unfortunate that the APC-led federal government could descend to this wicked antics against the workers of Ekiti State just because of an election which would eventually be lost by the APC candidate.
“We advise the Federal government to have a rethink on this draconian step because it’s retrogressive and it will not only be counter-productive but adds to the indices of bad governance which Nigerian are familiar with in the APC government since its inauguration both at the center and some states where the party hold sway.”
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