The governors of Rivers and Benue states, Messrs Nyesom Wike and Samuel Ortom as well as former representative of Kaduna Central senatorial zone, Mr. Shehu Sani, have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to name and shame the state governors whom he alleged to have diverted funds meant for local councils.
The president had, on Thursday while delivering a speech at an event hosted for members of the Senior Executive Course 44 (2022) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, accused state governors of stealing local government funds thereby stunting development at the grassroots level.
The president cited a personal experience involving an unnamed governor to explain the corrupt practices perpetrated by some governors in dispensing resources meant for local councils’ administration.
He said it beats anyone’s imagination how some governors collected money on behalf of council areas in their states, only to remit just half of such allocation to the council chairmen, who would further deplete the remittance by pilfering it.
‘‘I found it necessary to digress after reading my speech and this digression is a result of my personal experience. What they did, this is my personal experience, if the money from the Federation Account to the state is about N100 million, N50m will be sent to the chairman, but he will sign that he received N100 million. The governor will pocket the balance and share it with whoever he wants to share it with.
‘‘And then the chairman of the local government must see how much he must pay in salaries and to hell with development. When he pays the salaries of the big man, the balance he will put in his pocket.
‘‘This is what’s happening. This is Nigeria. It’s a terrible thing; you cannot say the person who was doing this is not educated. He was a qualified lawyer, he was experienced, yet he participated in this type of corruption.
“So, it’s a matter of conscience, whichever level we find ourselves. As a leader, you sit here, with all the sacrifices the country is making by putting you through institutions and getting you ready to lead. The fundamental thing is personal integrity. May God help us,” he said.
Reacting to the accusation yesterday, Wike denied ever taking funds meant for the local governments since he assumed office as governor in 2015 and challenged the president to name governors who are in the act instead of engaging in collective defamation.
“I want to challenge Mr. President. Mr. President you are a leader and we believe as leaders you must come out and tell Nigerians, who are those committing this offence. You said the governors are taking local government funds; I want to say in the name of Almighty God I have never touched local government funds one day, I have never and I have no reason to do that.
“So, Mr. President, who are those people? You know them, tell us. It is not good to say what you call class defamation, you say, governors, please I am not one of those governors. So Mr. President please spare me, tell Nigerians that the Integrity governors are not part of them, we have integrity, we are not part of them,” he said.
He said when he served as local government chairman under former Governor Peter Odili, funds meant for his council are were never touched by the governor.
Therefore, he said, he (Wike) has no reason to tamper with any money meant for local governments as governor.
For his part, Ortom denied touching funds meant for the local councils saying their funds go to them directly from the federation account.
“It is a logical fallacy to say that all governors are criminals; all governors are stealing from local government. I join governor Wike to say from 2015, let EFCC come, let ICPC come, let every other agency that can unearth this. As far as Benue State is concerned let them bring it out so that we know the people; there is no point generalising that all of us are evil people.
“I don’t do it, I didn’t like it when the federal government enacted something and said local government should have financial autonomy, but from that day all monies are paid to the local government, and no single naira has been paid through anyone. All monies that come from the federation account go straight to the individual councils.”
In his defence, the governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, dissociated himself from the allegation.
Spokesman for the governor, Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, who addressed journalists in Asaba yesterday said Okowa’s administration has remained transparent and accountable to the people and would never be counted among the governors who divert local government funds.
He stated that in case the president had information that such pilfering happened in some states, “the reverse is the case in Delta, where rather than touch the funds of local governments, the governor gives them nothing less than N300 million monthly to augment their salaries and pension bills, and remain afloat.”
He added: “I want to say that Mr. President, as one who has all the information about issues in the country, knows the governors who fall into that category of the so-called ‘thieves’ he was referring to.
“We all know that our own Governor, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, does not belong there. He was one of the first governors, if not the first, to embrace local government autonomy when it was agreed on, just as he did with the judiciary and the legislature.
“He went as far as getting legislation to grant autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary. He allowed them to run autonomously. And, for a man, who allowed these organs of government to have autonomy, he cannot have anything to do with funds belonging to the local governments.
“You are also aware that the government of Dr Ifeanyi Okowa recently released N5 billion for pension arrears; N2.5 billion of that was a grant to the local government for payment of pensions.
“It is a grant to the local government; they are not going to pay. The governor did that because the local governments have to fund their activities, pay their teachers and healthcare workers.”
Similarly, Sani challenged the president to name the thieving governors
He made the appeal in a tweet via his verified Twitter account on Friday.
“The President should have the courage to specifically mention those governors pocketing LG allocations rather than timid generalisation.”
Sani told the president to be courageous enough to provide the names of the governors involved in the racket.
