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APC Accuses Fayose Of Plan To Divert Bailout Cash
… Puts CBN, DMO, EFCC, ICPC On Notice
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of plans to divert the N9.6b bail-out cash by the Federal Government to assist the state workers in the payment of their salary arrears and other entitlements.
It noted that the latest announcement by the governor that pensioners’ entitlements and other categories of workers were not captured in the bail-out cash was an attempt to divert the money to other uses, warning that Ekiti people would resist the governor’s plan to divert the money to other wasteful use as he did with the balance of N2b bond cash he diverted to a fraudulent poultry project that became a conduit pipe to siphon Ekiti State money for personal use in 2005.
It also threatened to apply for Freedom of Information Law instrument to get the details of the breakdown of the bailout cash at the Central Bank and Debt Management Office as well as putting anti-corruption agencies on notice to curb diversion of the money.
Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said in a statement that the warning became imperative in the face of “the more you look the less you see” antics of the governor in the management of the state’s funds. He urged the governor to publicly declare the break-down of the bailout cash to ensure transparent disbursement to the appropriate quarters.
“Fayose has started his usual stunts of the ‘more you look the less you see’ antics of a consummate gambler by telling us the heads not covered by the bailout fund but not telling us what the loan covers.
“Ekiti people will no longer tolerate any juggler playing games with the bailout cash by the Federal Government to relieve workers the pains of unpaid salaries and other entitlements. We will like to see the breakdown of the loan explicitly stated.
“We are still at a loss as to why arrears of pensioners are not included in the bailout fund when we were initially told that all indebtedness to civil servants and former political office holders were included,” Olatunbosun said.
Expressing worry over inconsistent claims by the governor on the debt profile of the state, APC spokesman said the party could not understand why a governor that claimed he did not owe any salary would suddenly become the first to apply for bailout cash to clear unpaid salaries and other entitlements to public officers.
“Fayose said he was not owing salaries and that means he didn’t need bailout loan, but he was the first to secretly apply for the loan before he subjected the matter to a public debate among civil servants at a meeting pretending to be carrying them along by asking whether or not he should take the loan.
“Next, he applied for N9.6billion as the arrears of salary, allowances, check off dues, leave bonuses, subvention to higher institutions, salaries, furniture and severance allowances of former political office holders, among others.
“Next, the governor started complaining that the bailout loan was not enough to offset the debts and that the state actually needed N29 billion and we wonder whether Fayose did not know the total indebtedness of the state to workers before applying for the loan. Or he is playing games with Ekiti people?” Olatunbosun queried.
He regretted that even though the governor confirmed that he had collected the bailout cash, he refused to pay workers to enable them celebrate Id el Kabir festival.
Warning that Ekiti people will resist any impunity in the disbursement of the bail-out cash, he said:
“We have it on good authority that Fayose is planning to divert the money to pay contractors because that is where he can make easy money, while he has no plan to pay former political office holders whose benefits he had earlier included in the bailout loan application he submitted and this is the reason he came up with another story that the money is not enough.
“Fayose should realise that the bailout fund is not free money from the Federal Government but a loan which the state will pay back over 20 years as specified in the loan terms.
“We call on the civil servants and former political office holders to demand for their entitlements from Governor Fayose before he makes another trip to Dubai and South Africa as usual.
“We wish to notify Fayose that failure to declare the breakdown of the bailout fund publicly will lead to employing the instrumentality of the FOI Law to demand for same at the Central Bank and the DMO.
“We also put the CBN, DMO, EFCC and ICPC on notice to monitor the governor in the disbursement of the fund to ensure compliance and apply sanctions when necessary.
