FG short-changing Ekiti Paris Club refunds by $20m, PDP cries out

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7 years ago

FATYOSETHE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has alleged that the Federal Government is deliberately short-hanging the state from its Paris Club refunds by about $20million.

Ekiti PDP in a statement made available to newsmen, on Friday, claimed that “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 $69 million as the remaining part of the refunds, but that has been reduced to $49 million.”

PDP, in the statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, said: “We have it on good authority that the $20 million removed would be part of the funds to be used by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Dr Kayode 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 just reason, the new figure we are hearing is being touted as the dues of the state.”

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According to the PDP, the APC-led Federal Government was “deliberately shortchanging the state government in the refunds due to the state from the Paris Club at the instance of its governorship candidate in the state, Dr Kayode Fayemi.”

The party also claimed that the move was meant to hinder the current Ekiti State government “from meeting its obligations, and portray it in bad light in the public, and challenged the Federal Government to “come out and declare what remained for Ekiti State to get from the Paris Club refund.”

The party also said it was demanding “explanation from the Presidency how it was only Ekiti State’s refunds that suffered arbitrary cut down after the submission of the Governors’ Forum consultant of the aggregate refunds due to all states of the federation.”

He said: “The permutation in the Presidency is that if the Paris Club refund gets 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 was recorded in 2014, when Dr Kayode Fayemi was defeated in all the 16 local government areas of the state.

“It’s just unfortunate that the 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 holds way.”