The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) says comments made by Ned
Nwoko, a lawyer and business magnate, regarding the Paris Club refund were
“blatant lies and half truths”.
There has been controversy over consultancy fees amounting
to $418 million from the Paris Club refund.
Nwoko, on Saturday, alleged that the consultancy fee owed by
the states and local governments was $68 million and not $418 million as
claimed by NGF.
He said the original claims calculated based on agreed terms
was in excess of $300 million, but his firm “offered huge discount on the
entitlement to accept the $68 million”.
However, NGF, in a statement signed by Abdulrazaque
Bello-Barkindo, the forum’s head of media and public affairs, said Nwoko told
blatant lies and half truth while speaking to journalists.
“The facts are and
will always remain: whether the claims of the consultants are lawful and
justified under our constitution and whether any judgment which is a subject of
a pending appeal can be enforced or executed as the consultants now attempt to
do?” the statement reads.
“If both questions are answered in the negative, it does not
matter if the contracts leading to the claims were entered into by any public
official, past or present.
“No person or persons can agree to blatantly circumvent our
constitution and get away with it. Neither is the period when judgments were
obtained of consequence in this case.”
NGF further said Nwoko only singled out and justified his
own fee, which is part of the controversial $418 million.
“While he strenuously tried to single out and justify his
own bogus claim of $68 million; the total amount which all the consultants,
working in concert, collectively seek and claim from the states and LGAs,
albeit unlawfully, is $418,953,690.59.
“Broken down as follows: Ned Munir Nwoko $68,658,192.83; Ted
Isighohi Edwards $159,000,000; and Panic Alert Security System Ltd $47,831,920.
“Others are Riok Nig,
Ltd $142,028,941.95, Prince Orji Orizu $1,219,440.45; and barrister Olaitan
Bello $215,195.36, which makes the total of $418,953,690.59.
“The attempt by Ned,
therefore, to separate his own claim of $68 million as if it is not related to
the claims of other consultants is being clever by half.
“All the consultants claim to have rendered the same or
similar service of helping the states and LGs to recover over-deducted Paris
Club refunds by the federal government performed some contracts to be paid from
the Paris Club refunds.
“It is therefore needless joining issues with Ned Nwoko or
indeed any of the consultants. It is, however, imperative to debunk patent lies
dished out in order to disabuse the minds of the undiscerning public.
“In his desperation to justify his claim, Ned peddled
untruths that his team was a member of the federal government committee
constituted to reconcile figures under the Paris Club refunds to the states and
local governments. That is patently false. The report of that committee dated
May, 2007 shows that only the FMF, OAGF, CBN, DMO and RMFC (secretariat) were
members.”
In 2021, the governors obtained an order from a federal high
court in Abuja restraining the federal government from deducting the money from
states’ accounts for the purpose of paying the disputed debt.
The forum had also accused Malami of bias in handling the
controversial debt, questioning his role in the process.
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