Kogi state government has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of pursuing a political agenda on the controversial N20 billion salary bailout account.
In a swift response to the statement issued by EFCC on Friday alleging that it has returned N19.3 billion bailout funds purportedly hidden by the Kogi state government to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Kingsley Fanwo, said the commission’s latest attempt to “desperately wriggle out of a bad case with another mischief” as laughable.
Fanwo said Kogi state government would prepare a comprehensive response to the “latest of the desperate moves by the Commission to save its face in view of its obvious goof and unethical conduct in the matter in dispute.”
“The press statement by the Commission is a malicious attempt to rope the state into a matter that ordinarily has nothing to do with our dear state.
“We maintain the unassailable truth that the Kogi State Government did not operate such account with the bank as affirmed in a letter by the bank. We sympathize with the EFCC as it has been a herculean task to cover the initial misinformation and deliberate deceit by the Commission,” he said.
Fanwo stressed that the Kogi State Government would react to the latest EFCC statement comprehensively, noting that “every option that is legal will be considered to maintain the innocence and transparency of our government.”
“Kogites and indeed, Nigerians should rest assured that we will get to the root of this matter,” he assured.
In a statement by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, the commission had said it transferred the said money to the apex bank.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has acknowledged the receipt of the sum of N19, 333,333,333.36 (Nineteen Billion, Three Hundred and Thirty-three Million, Three Hundred and Thirty-three Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty-three Naira, Thirty-six Kobo) recovered the EFCC from the Kogi State Salary Bail-out account domiciled in Sterling Bank Plc. This effectively puts to rest the campaign of misinformation and unconscionable denials by the Kogi State Government that no fund was recovered from its bail out account,” Uwujaren said.
