Governor Ayodele Fayose who stormed Abuja to meet the Minister of Finance, has warned the Buhari-led federal government that if they want to fight him, they should focus on him and not to punish his people.
Gov. Fayose
The action Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, on Wednesday, stormed the Ministry of Finance in Abuja, over the alleged non-release of his state’s January federal allocation and N1.1 billion budget support fund.
While speaking with journalists in Abuja, Governor Fayose, disclosed that his visit to the ministry was a follow-up to the alarm he raised on Tuesday, that his state was yet to receive its January allocation, after 35 states have gotten theirs.
It was gathered that the governor at a press conference in Ado Ekiti, capital of the state, on Tuesday, raised the alarm that the Federal Government seized the state’s federal allocation and budget support fund for last month.
He said the development has subjected civil servants in the state to undue hardship and that, if the federalgovernment wants to fight him, it should focus on him and not punish his people.
“I believe I should do a follow-up, to meet with the Minister of Finance, Mrs. kemi Adeosun, for an update, but, she actually called me on Tuesday that she just got back and was 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 had left for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, but, I met her special adviser, who assured me that the matter would be resolved when the minister gets back.
“What we are talking about is a part of the monthly allocation and the budget support, which is about N1.1 billion that has 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. I appreciate the minister’s prompt response and promise to resolve the matter. It is only Ekiti that is involved and this is the second time; that explains why I was suspicious and had to act fast…”
Speaking further, Fayose added: “I got a text from the Central Bank of Nigeria that the money has been paid and later, I learnt that there was a withdrawal, on that instruction that Ekiti was not included in the list, out of the entire Federation.
“So, naturally, I have every reason to be curious and when it happened that it was just Ekiti State alone, I became suspicious.
“The minister has given me her words; at her level, as a minister, that is good enough.”