Special Assistant to the Ekiti State Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, has faulted the All Progressives Congress’ National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; Deputy National Chairman (South), Segun Oni, and others for criticising Governor Ayodele Fayose’s letter to the Chinese government on the $2 billion loan.
Fayose in his April 12 letter to President Xi Jinping of China had claimed that Nigerians were “totally opposed to increment of the country’s debt burden, which is already being serviced with 25 per cent of the Federal Government annual budget.”
“The government of China should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations are totally opposed to increment of the country’s debt burden, which is already being serviced with 25 per cent of the Federal Government annual budget,” he stated.
But Odigie-Oyegun and Oni said the governor’s letter to the chinese government not to grant the loan sought by the Federal Government was a display of ignorance to issues affecting the country by Fayose.
However, in a statement on Monday, Olayinka described their criticism as “brazen display of political hypocrisy.”
He described President Muhammadu Buhari’s non-signing of any direct loan agreement with the Chinese government during his visit as a vindication of the governor’s position.
“What Nigeria needs is the collaboration of the Government of China in the area of technology transfer, rather than granting loan that will be mismanaged under the guise of building infrastructure.”
In a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Monday, the governor’s spokesperson said “people like Oyegun, Oni and Prof Itse Sagay lack moral rights to complain even if President Muhammadu Buhari is called whatever names because they never complained when as a sitting president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan was called unprintable names by APC stalwarts and leaders.”
Olayinka, who said Fayose only exercised his rights as a Nigerian, asked, “where were the likes of Oyegun, Oni, Prof Itse Sagay and others when APC promoted crude politics and anti-Nigeria posturing to an unprecedented level when Peoples Democratic Party was in power?”
“It is on record that APC wrote to the United States of America not to sell arms to Nigeria, reported the country to the European Union, United Nations and went to the bizarre extent of reporting the then Chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, to the International Criminal Court (ICC), not for committing the kind of genocide committed against the Shiite Muslims in Zaria and Agatus in Benue, but for killing Boko Haram insurgents.
“On one occasion, a certain APC stalwart insinuated that Jonathan’s visit to Chad was to plan further attacks on the North, tweeting that; ‘Boko Haram: Jonathan visits Chadian President Idris Deby for the second time in two months, to plan further attacks?’
“It is also on record that instead of lending his voice to the federal government efforts to dislodge Boko Haram insurgents, President Buhari opted to describe the clampdown on Boko Haram as injustice against the North. He went on to accuse the government of killing and destroying houses of Boko Haram insurgents while the Niger Delta militants were given special treatment by the government.
“Even when Oni was Ekiti State Governor as a PDP member, Action Congress as APC was then, wrote against his government’s move to obtain a N5 billion loan. Isn’t it then funny that because he is now in APC, the same Oni is now against Governor Fayose for doing the same thing done against him by the APC elements in Ekiti State?
“Isn’t it also funny that in Oyegun, Oni, Sagay, others political dictionary of hypocrisy, it was right for APC stalwart to have reported the federal government to ICC but wrong for Fayose to have written to the Chinese government on the federal government’s plan to mortgage the future of Nigeria and its people?”
The governor’s spokesperson said since the federal government claimed it had recovered and still recovering trillions of Naira allegedly looted from the treasury, there was no need to borrow money from anywhere to finance the 2016 Budget.
“With the $200bn they claimed is coming from Dubai, $700m raw cash they said was found in Diezani Alison Madueke’s house, N3 trillion said to have been saved from the Treasury Single Account and N4.5 trillion the Federal Inland Revenue Service said it will generate this year, what then is the rationale behind the federal government seeking any loan? Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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