Mixed reactions have continued to trail President Muhammadu Buhari’s request to the National Assembly to refund N10.069bn to Kogi State government being money spent for the construction of federal roads in the state.
President Buhari’s request is coming a month to the governorship election in the state. The state governor, Yahaya Bello is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the governorship poll.
The president’s request was read by Senate President Ahmad Lawan during plenary yesterday.
The president’s letter reads: “The Distinguished Senate President would recall that, based on my request for the resolution of the National Assembly approving the establishment of a promissory note programme and a Bond Issuance to settle inherited local debts and contractual obligations of the Federal Government, the 8th National Assembly passed resolutions approving the Issuance of Promissory Notes to refund State Governments for projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government.
“The resolutions of the 8th Assembly were conveyed through three different letters from the Clerk of the National Assembly as follows: Letter dated July 27, 2018 and referenced NASS/CAN/106/Vol.10/277 which approved the Issuance of Promissory Notes to 21 states; letter dated January 29, 2019 and referenced NASS/CAN/106/Vol.11/004 which approved the Issuance of Promissory Notes to Delta and Taraba States; and letter dated May 23, 2019 and referenced NASS/CAN/106/Vol.11/164 which approved the Issuance of Promissory Notes to Bauchi State.
“The three resolutions approved the Issuance of Promissory Notes to 24 out of the 25 State Governments requested, and the only state for which approval has not been given is Kogi State, with an outstanding claim of N10,069,692,410.15 (ten billion, sixty-nine million, six hundred and ninety-two thousand, four hundred and ten naira, fifteen kobo).”
After reading the request, Lawan referred it to the Senate committee on Local and Foreign Debts for further legislative work. Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 16 election, Musa Wada, has alleged that the money was meant for buying.
Speaking through the Deputy Director, Public Communication of his campaign council, Austin Okai, he urged the National Assembly not to approve the request.
“The money is meant for vote buying. The APC observed that all indications show they are going to lose the election. President Buhari released N30 billion bailout earlier but it didn’t help matters. Now he wants to release another N10 billion few days to election.
“We are asking the National Assembly to put on hold the request for now until after the election. Even if they are going to release it, it should be after the election.
“During the administration of former Governor Idris Wada, a bailout of N50.8 billion was requested about three months to election but this same Buhari refused to release the money to him on grounds of election so why seeking such approval now that we have few days to election in Kogi?
“The roads for which they are seeking N10 billion refund were done by the PDP. What has been the achievements of the APC in Kogi,” he said.
An indigene of Lokoja, Usman Yahaya has said that releasing such money at this time would not be the best, considering the election at hand. He also urged the National Assembly not to approve the request until after the election.
Another indigene of the state, Mary Idoko, on her part said such money instead of being released at a time like this where there are high chances of being misused, should rather be put on hold and after the election, ploughed into other critical infrastructure that will have direct bearing on the generality of the people.
Credit: Daily Trust
