Former Finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has
described Governor Adams Oshiomhole 's accusation that
she spent $1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account to
fund the re-election bid of former President Goodluck as
stupid and unfounded.
According to a statement released by the Media Adviser to
the ex-minister, Paul C Nwabuikwu, on Monday, July 13, the
Governor's claim is another round of false campaign
against Okonjo-Iweala, which he has embarked on for
months.
"The statement is just another example of the numerical
diarrhea that seems to have afflicted His Excellency in recent
times in his effort to damage the reputation of the former
Minister," the communique said.
Read full statement below:
"The allegation by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State
that former Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent
$1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account to fund the re-
election bid of former President Jonathan is the kind of
ludicrously false statement that has unfortunately become a
trademark of the Governor in his public campaign of falsehood
against Dr Okonjo-Iweala.
The statement is just another example of the numerical diarrhea
that seems to have afflicted His Excellency in recent times in
his effort to damage the reputation of the former Minister.
He has, within the last few months, asked Dr Okonjo-Iweala to
explain all kinds of totally wild and unsubstantiated figures,
ranging from $30 billion, $20 billion, $2.1 billion, N720 billion
and now $1 billion.
To say the obvious, the accusations are totally lacking in
credibility.
Governor Oshiomhole’s published comments also contain other
falsehoods. For instance, he quoted Dr Okonjo-Iweala as saying
that she and the Finance Commissioners of the 36 states
approved the spending of $2.1 billion out of the Excess Crude
Account, adding that the Commissioners had disowned the
statement. This is also a complete distortion.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala never said the Federation Accounts Allocation
Committee (FAAC) approved spending out of the ECA. Rather
as the Commissioners themselves stated, the former Minister of
State Finance informed them that former President Jonathan
approved the expenditure to end the debilitating fuel queues
across the country.
As Nigerians know, the Finance Ministry under Okonjo-Iweala
regularly published details of revenue allocations from the ECA
in national media. So Oshiomhole’s tortured “calculations”
based on his “four figure tables” are mere political numbers
conjured to achieve a political purpose. Nigerians can see
through the elaborate antics.
Governor Oshiomhole’s latest statement, like earlier ones,
labours to give the impression that the entire FAAC process
which involves the Federal Government and the 36 states of the
Federation is a personal monopoly of Dr Okonjo-Iweala.
This is, of course not true. FAAC is a long standing national
platform for allocating revenues chaired by the Minister of State
Finance. The governor’s insistence on pushing this clearly
fictional narrative underscores his desperation.
It is instructive that Governor Oshiomhole is a key member of
the committee set up by the National Economic Council to
investigate the ECA spending. His continuing attacks against Dr
Okonjo-Iweala seem to suggest that he has lost confidence in
this platform which he deployed to make some of his initial
false and baseless allegations. The Governor does not seem to
appreciate that he is undermining the very credibility of the
committee.
Once again, we ask: why are Oshiomhole and his cohorts so
ready to sacrifice truth, precedent and decency in this political
witch hunt against Dr Okonjo-Iweala?
We are confident that they will fail because truth will triumph."
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