The Governor of Zamfara State,
Abdulaziz Yari, has said that former President Goodluck Jonathan got twice the
$1 billion approved by the governors to fight insurgency.
Yari said there was nothing wrong
with the approval of $1 billion for the fight against insurgency for the
current administration.
The governor was addressing
reporters after a meeting at the presidential villa in Abuja.
Yari, who is the Chairman of the
Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, said his colleagues decided to shun partisan
politics when accepting that the money should be taken from the excess crude
account.
“Nigeria governors forum
discussed this issue at our November meeting and we agreed across party lines
that this thing was done in 2014 where $2 billion was taken in agreement with
the governors.
“And Governor Akpabio was the one
who moved the motion at the time. This time around, we realised that there was
need to purchase equipment for the military, so we felt we should not
compromise the issue of security for the entire country.
“As governors, we agreed to
forfeit $1 billion of our of own share of excess crude account which we are
going to back up with state assembly resolution at a later time.
“This is not the first time a
decision like this is being taken, it happened during Jonathan’s era.
“They took $2 billion. We all
agreed at that time collectively in the same chamber to withdraw $2 billion to
procure equipment for the military and also for logistics for the military
because they were telling us, whether it was true or false that our soldiers
were being killed.
“Some went to social media to say
that they were being killed like rats because they didn’t have equipment. That
was what generated discussions at the time and there was no controversy, there
was no opposition.
“The $2 billion taken under
Jonathan’s time did was not backed up by any resolution from the state
assemblies.”
The Governor also said that N5
billion was spent on Niger Delta during the time of the late President Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua.
He added, “There was this
decision under Yar’Adua when they were sourcing funds for Niger Delta Power
Holdings. They took over N5 billion for power generation, we followed the same
process.
“The money was withdrawn from the
excess crude account, and our respective houses of assembly confirmed the
resolution.
“We shouldn’t play politics with
the issue of national security.”
On Governor Ayo Fayose’s
opposition, Yari said, “Gentlemen, this is democracy. Each and every person has
his own way to want to look at things and you cannot stop him from agitation.
“At the governors forum, 12
members form quorum. At the time we took this decision, we had 32 members in
attendance and there was no single opposition to the decision.
“If anybody has his own way that
he wants things to go, we had the majority and there was no even minority
opinion at that meeting. We look at the country Nigeria first before any other
issue, it is only when you have the country that you can have the politics.”
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Well said.. Please don't mind that idiot called Fayose
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