Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike and his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to name the state governors pilfering financial allocations to the local governments.
Buhari mentioned no names.
But speaking yesterday during the inauguration of Mgbuoalimini internal roads in Rumueme Kingdom, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State by Ortom, Gov. Wike said the G-5 governors were known for their integrity and would not touch monies meant for local councils.
The Group of Five Governors (G-5) under the auspices of the Integrity Governors in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) comprises both Wike and Ortom as well as governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Ifeanyi Ugwuayi of Enugu State.
“So, Mr. President, who are those people? You know them. Tell us. It is not good to say (what we call class defamation) ‘governors’. I am not one of them. Please spare me and tell Nigerians that the Integrity Governors are not part of them. We have integrity. We are not part of them. Do us a favour to announce those states taking local government money.
“Since 2015 till now I have never; I will not have any reason to do it. When I was a chairman under Dr. Peter Odili, he never touched one naira of local government funds. Nobody touched my funds. So, why will I begin to touch other people’s funds? Remove the integrity governors. We are men of honour. We will not touch. But announce those who are touching.
“I, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, Commander of Order of the Niger, Grand Service Star of Rivers State, life bencher, I have never and I will not touch any local government money. I don’t even know what they get a month. I don’t give a damn.
“I have never one day called any local government to partner with state to execute any project. Ordinarily, some of these projects we are doing ought to be local government projects. Let one council chairman raise his hands and say ‘sir our money came yesterday, you tampered with our money’. Mr. President I know you are a leader and that you will mention names. It doesn’t matter the party they belong to”.
Wike recalled that as a local government chairman of Obio-Akpor, he performed creditably well that he took first in all the awards.
He challenged local government council chairmen to commit themselves in discharging their constitutional responsibilities.
He said: “I urge all local governments to do the work they are sent. That is why I don’t like when local government chairmen come to praise me. I was a chairman of this particular local government and during that period I took everything as first.
Ortom, for his part, said: “I join Wike to appreciate Mr. President for his contribution to growth. But I know that many people are frustrating him. Some of his ministers and advisers are advising him wrongly. It is a logical fallacy to say that all governors are criminals, all governors are stealing from the local government.
“I join Governor Wike to say that since 2015, let EFCC come in, let ICPC come and every other agency that can unearth this; as far as Benue State is concerned let them come. There is no point generalising. I don’t do it. When the federal government enacted something and said local governments should have financial autonomy from that day all monies are paid to the local government.
“All monies go to the individual councils. In my own case pensioners and those that own gratuities are members of the joint council of local government. So they appropriate the money the way they want it. Since 2015 I have operated an elected local government system. I have no authority over them.
“If not because he is the president and anything the President says we are bound to respect, I would have said he was wrong. But it is important to point out to him that some of us are not involved. I join Governor Wike to say bring out those state governors, who take part of the local government money and pocket for themselves. I think it is just fair that you do that so that everybody will know what is happening in our country.”
On the 2023 election, Ortom insisted that the Presidency should come to the southern part of the country in line with the Asaba Accord.
His words: “You will recall that it was the southern governors that came together and said in Asaba that truly President Muhammadu Buhari will be finishing his eight year tenure and it is only proper for the Presidency to go to the South.
“Some of us felt that it was right. I was the first governor from the north to join forces with the southern governors irrespective of their political parties. And I supported the idea that the presidency should come to the South because after eight years of rule in the North it is only ideal that the presidency should rotate between north and south.
“That is why Obasanjo gave it to Yar Adua that time. When God wanted it, it became the turn of President Goodluck. And so the Presidency belongs to the South. But if the southern people themselves want to betray it, that is their business.
“But for me as a Christian and someone who believes in equity, fairness and justice, that is what I stand for. Power belongs to God. I believe that the God of justice will do the needful and by 2023 we will have a President that will take care of Nigerians, a president, who will not be biased about us. But someone who has not won and has chosen to be biased against some of us, well I am not God and I can’t decide. May the will of God be done”.
Buhari, while receiving members of the Senior Executive Course 44 (2022) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday had spoken about what he called his personal experience of how governors steal allocations to Lgs.
He said: “Speaking from personal experience, a Chief Executive of a state, a qualified lawyer, trained; what they did – this is my personal experience – if the monies from the Federal Government to state governments is N100million, let’s put it at N100m, N50m will be sent to the chairman with a letter that he will sign that he received N100m.
“The governor will pocket the balance and share it with whoever he wants to and then, the chairman of the local government will see how much he must pay in salaries; to hell goes development! Monies for the salaries will be given and the balance will be put in his pocket. This is what is happening.
“This is Nigeria, it’s a terrible thing, you cannot say the person who was doing this was not educated, he was a qualified lawyer, he was experienced, yet, he participated in this type of corruption.”
Source: The Nation
