Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti, says Abubakar Malami, the
attorney general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, is supporting
consultants and private firms to fleece Nigerians of their money.
Speaking to AriseTV on Thursday, Fayemi queried why the AGF
is in a hurry to pay the $418 alleged fee to the consultants instead of waiting
for the court decision.
“It is befuddling that the attorney general of the
federation is pushing vehemently on the side of people whose primary intent is
to fleece the Nigerian people,” Fayemi said.
“One of the ways in which the Governors’ Forum at the time
tried to address it was to call for all the cases that are in court and all the
claims that are been made by consultants and reviewed them.
“This review was
carried out. The attorney-general requested for information on this.
“This information was passed to him and at the end of the
day, $350 million was approved by Mr. President as full and final settlement
and some of these funds went to people who are now back to the attorney-general
claiming for ‘$419 million’.
“So if in 2017, a certain amount of money had been approved
as full and final payment, where did this $418 million come from?
“I suppose, that is the question that the court needs to
help unravel.”
The governor said that the money allegedly owed by the 36
states to these consultants “is not $418m, it is $419m, and that may ring some
bells in many places.”
“In 2017, when the president of Nigeria graciously agreed to
pay the refund that was inappropriately deducted from the state and local
government, many of these people came out of the woodworks and they were
blocking the receipt of these funds by states,” he added.
“What is happening now is just a continuation of this
sleight of hand and that is what the governors are challenging,”
“I wrote to Mr President on behalf of my colleagues. I sat
with Mr. President on this issue, and clearly, Mr President was misled and
there is no way governors are going to do this.”
He further said that the claims against the states on the
fees were untrue and should be carefully scrutinised.
“We have been very clear that these claims to the best of
our knowledge are fraudulent and they should be subjected to a forensic audit
if states are found to be liable on account of the purported consultancy
allegedly offered and delivered by these people,” he said.
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