Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, released a document he claimed proved Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, received N50 billion from the Federal Government as intervention funds following the January 2024 explosion in Ibadan.
However, the document, a memo from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, showed that the N50 billion request by Oyo State was actually among the outstanding balances yet to be released.
The memo, captioned “Re-Request for Special Intervention Funds,” showed that some state governments had requested special intervention funds totalling N915.5 billion.
While N450.7 billion had been disbursed, there was an outstanding balance of N464.7 billion, with Oyo State’s N50 billion request being part of this balance.
Fayose claimed that Makinde received the N50 billion but only released N4.5 billion to victims of the explosion, alleging that the remaining funds were diverted.
THE CONCLAVE reports that the claim of diversion is a ground for action for libel.
In fact, Fayose had challenged Makinde to take legal action if he believed the allegations were false and insisted that he had sufficient proof to defend his claims.
Makinde’s camp had denied the allegations, with his Chief Press Secretary, Sulaimon Olarenwaju, challenging Fayose to provide concrete evidence.
THE CONCLAVE reports that the memo, captioned: “Re-Request for Special Intervention Funds,” which was the evidence thereafter released by Fayose, was directed to the Minister of Finance to draw his attention to the various requests for special intervention funds by some state governments, totaling N915.5 billion.
The memo read: “Honourable Minister, it is pertinent to state that due to the very low cash position of the Special Accounts from where these requests are to be met, these requests could not be met in spite of their age (some were received as far back as 1st quarter of the year).”
The third paragraph of the memo, however, said not all the funds had been released.
It said: “The Honourable Minister may wish to further note from the schedule that the sum of N450.7 billion was disbursed, leaving an outstanding balance of N464.7 billion as outlined below.”
The N50 billion request by Oyo State was number one on the list of outstanding balance yet to be released.
Recall that Fayose made his document public on Sunday in a statement accompanied by a screenshot of the memo from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
He further said he was compelled to release official document despite his reluctance to do so in the interest of transparency and public accountability.
“Even though it is not in my character to go public with official government documents, I had to do this so Nigerians will know who is saying the truth and who has not been sincere with the people of Oyo State,” he said.
The former governor said that Makinde’s alleged disclosure of details from a private meeting with President Bola Tinubu made fuller public disclosure necessary.
He challenged the governor to take legal action if he believed the allegations were false, insisting that he had sufficient proof to defend his claims.
He said: “I challenge Governor Seyi Makinde to sue me on this.
“There are also proofs of other intervention funds received from Tinubu’s administration by the Oyo State Government which the governor refused to disclose to the people.”
Fayose further claimed to have documentary evidence of Oyo State’s actual Internally Generated Revenue, contrary to figures publicly stated by Makinde, noting that he would release the details at a later time.
He said: “There are documentary evidences on the actual Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Oyo State, as against Governor Makinde’s claim, but we will keep our gunpowder dry for now.
“My name is still Ayo Fayose.
“I don’t say what I can’t prove.” [with additional report from Eagle Online]
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