Fayose storms Finance Ministry over non release of Ekiti Allocation
Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose on Wednesday stormed the Ministry of Finance over the non payment of the state's January budget support allocation of N1.1 billion.
This is even as former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode described the development as petty, vindictive and reprehensible.
Addressing the media shortly after storming the ministry, Fayose explained that his coming there was a follow up of the alarm he raised on Tuesday about non-payment of his monthly allocation and budget support.
"I believe I should do a follow up today (yesterday) to meet with the Minister of Finance for an update, but she actually called me on Tuesday that she just got back but going to look into it today (yesterday) and have it resolved as soon as possible.
"You will however appreciate that Ekiti civil servants are restive, having spent Christmas and there is no money in January, obviously there will be challenges.
"By the time I got here the Minister has already gone for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, but I met the Special Adviser, who assured me that the matter will be resolved when the Minister is back.
"What we are talking about is a part of the monthly allocation and the budget support which is about N1.1b that have not been paid.
"I believe this should be done immediately and I want to believe also that it was a mix up and not political but if it is political, they will have a lot of questions to answer why it should be so.
"If they want to fight Fayose, they should fight Fayose, not the civil servants of Ekiti, but I appreciate her promptness and promise to resolve the matter."
Explaining that Ekiti is the only state being owed January allocation, Fayose said, "It is only Ekiti that is involved and this is the second time, that explains why I was suspicious and have to act fast.
I got a text from the Central Bank of Nigeia (CBN) that the money has been paid and later I learnt that there is a withdrawal of that instruction that Ekiti was not included in the list out of the entire Federation.
"So, naturally I have to be and when it happened that it was just Ekiti State alone, I have to be suspicious. The Minister has given me her word, at her level as a minister, that is good enough.
"If the promise of the Minister to resolve this issue as quickly as possible is not adhered to, I will have to bring it back to the public domain. We are all in the court of the public opinion where the public is able to judge whether justice is served at all times.
Governance is beyond all of us but I want to believe that they will do it."
Also reacting to the development, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode said, "the federal government's refusal to release the monthly allocation to the Ekiti State government is petty, vindictive and reprehensible.
"Simply because the courageous Ayo Fayose has become the rallying point of opposition against Muhammadu Buhari does not mean that the people of Ekiti state should suffer.
"I call on Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to intervene in this matter expeditiously and release the Ekiti State government's allocation forthwith."
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