Oshiomhole: Okonjo-Iweala stole $1billion for Jonathan's campaign
Oshiomhole: Okonjo-Iweala stole $1billion for Jonathan's campaign
Monday, July 13, 2015 5:31 pm
•Okonjo-Iweala: Oshiomhole says she can’t account for $1billion in ECA
Former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been accused of illegally taking $1 billion from the federation account to prosecute the re-election bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Edo state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, made the accusation in Benin on Monday at a Seminar with the theme “enhancing IGR in Edo, issues, prospects and challenges,” organized by the state government for Permanent Secretaries, Directors and Deputy Directors.
The Governor said the former Minister also needs to tells Nigerians how the Excess Crude Account was drawn down to $4.1 billion from the peak of $10 billion when no approval was given by the National Economic Council for any withdrawals.
“President Jonathan as far as the law of Nigeria is concerned, or any President, his approval is limited to funds of the federal government, not funds of the federation. Funds of the federation can only be approved by Governors and representative of the President as reflected in the composition of the National Economic Council, which is made up by Governors and chaired by the Vice President, with the CBN Governor and Minister of Finance and others as members
He said that Okonjo-Iweala would have been declared a pathological liar if she were a witness in court due to the inconsistencies in her statements, adding that a forensic audit would truly determine how much was illegally spent from the federation account under her watch as Minister.
Addressing the seminar participants, Oshiomhole said the state government would now hold Permanent Secretaries, Directors and Deputy Directors responsible for any fraud detected in their departments saying the government has trimmed down the cost of running government.
•Governor Oshiomhole: Money missing under Jonathan-Okonjo-Iweala
“The truth is, many things went wrong even at the federal level. As you might have read in the papers, while the federal government, under Goodluck Jonathan, with the then Coordinating Minister of the Economy liked to blame “Governors” for wasteful spending, for not saving for the rainy day, for not investing properly, the truth is the real weakness in the Nigerian federal chain has been the Federal Government. Our hope is that with the new President, given his pedigree we will break from the past.
“As I’m sure you will soon begin to hear when all the numbers are published, last week, I complained aloud that Edo State lost about N10 billion over a four year period from only one source the NLNG remittance to the federation account.
“How did I arrive at the figure? I used my 4-Figure Table and I asked myself at $2.1 billion remitted by NLNG as taxes and Shell, and by the way, Shell is not the only oil operative, we have Chevron and several others. They shared the $2.1 billion based on the revenue allocation formula, Edo State got about N2.27 billion. So I said, thank God this money came after the departure of Okonjo-Iweala and President Jonathan. If the PDP were still in charge in Abuja, this money would have been taken.
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22 Comments
It’s really despicable
that people like Oshiomhole and co resort to social media to tarnish the image of Dr Ngozi Okonjo in public.more sad is no
one really gives a toss about you lot neither do you guys feature on the grand
scheme of real news or world issues/happenings.this crave for unnecessary
attention & publicity by unknown/irrelevant people really needs to
stop.bloggers please stop encouraging these losers & time wasters & use
your medium for “live issues and relevant issues,
This little man called Oshiomhole talks too much. Is he done stealing from Edo state treasury corruption indeed! Who started it? IDIOT!!!!!!!!
Oshiomole seems to lack strategy or new thinking for his new administration. That is why he is all over the media blaming the previous government and giving lame excuses for why things are not going on well in Edo state.
These are mere distractions and excuses. The new government needs to get to work and get busy, stop pointing accusing fingers at the previous administration.
If the allegedly stolen money was used for former President Jonathan’s campaign, why not face Jonathan himself, confront him and charge him to court, instead of soiling Okonjo-Iweala’s name?
Read the submission again and try ( I appreciate this can be hard often times for some people) to think dispassionately in a patriotic manner.
How could you accuse Okonjo-Iweala of stealing funds as if all her activities had not been very open all the while? We are all aware of how she introduced the policy of publishing monthly allocations, how she put systems and processes in place to curb leakages, how she maintained her stance against all forms of corruption even in the face of stiff opposition etc. Now, how do you come around to suddenly say that kind of person stole billions of naira overnight? Oshiomhole got this one wrong.
It is rather unfortunate that a governor like Oshiomhole, who is supposed to be a statesman is the one cooking up baseless allegations to heat up the polity. This is totally unnecessary and irresponsible.
No matter how far lie travels, truth will eventually catch up
with it. The integrity, diligence, honesty and transparency with which Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala managed the economy are evident to all. Her work and track record
will continually speak in her defence.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has done Nigeria nothing but good.
All these attempts to drag her name in the mud are ill-calculated and cannot
succeed
I guess all the comments here are from the cyber soldiers of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. And I wil plead we attack the governor of Edo state cautiously.The last time Oshiomhole accused Okonjo-Iweala of spending ECA money without lawful and constitutional authorisation, she first accused Oshiomhole of lying. Hours after, she recanted and said the approval came from President Jonathan. Oshiomhole is not a reckless leader and I strongly believe that he knows what he is talking about, after all he is a member of a committee probing all the illegal spendings from ECA.
I used to think Oshiomhole was wise, now I know better. He has used Edo State’s money to import wife from Cape Verde, why would he not disturb an innocent woman like Okonjo-Iweala. It is time to manage and control your jurisdiction, rather than vent your frustration on this poor woman. Look for means to develop your state sir.
Osho baba tenor is gradually comming to an end and most of the money he was eyeing to convert to his personal property has been denied him based on the prudent management of funds by the former finance minister.Here is a man who lied to us that he has improved the IGR of his state to the point that he is not owing salary . This has turned to be a white LIE as some civil servants have continued to demonstrate on daily bases of their unpaid salaries for months.He better watch it as he is gradually showing his negative colours in recent times. Nigerians are no fools………
Guilty conscience! Oshiomole is culpabhle in the looting of the allocation belonging to Edo that was exposed by Okonjo Iweala. I guess this is the reason why he is making noise all over the place
It is highly embarrasing to hear a former labour leader to descend this much into the gutter in the name of politics. Oshiole need to learn manners.
Oshiomole has joined the league of confused politicians. he is just one of those people who like to make noise without substance
Stop the lies Mr. Oshomole…. What is all this?
This man is speaking like a confused confusionist. He has been making a whole lot of noise for weeks now about claims that he can neither prove nor defend.
The person you just refered to is not Dr. Okonjo Iweala, everyone knows that she was transparent always publicing the account in the dailies. I wonder if you are a magaician. Where are you getting your own records from? Oshomole, you have started creating confusion for your own selfish interest. God forgive you.
How does Oshiomhole think that a woman of integrity like the
former finance minister, Okonjo-Iweala would stoop so low to the extent of stealing
the nation’s fund in order to finance the presidential bid of President Jonathan?
Both Okonjo-Iweala and former president Jonathan would do no such thing at the
peril of the country.
For Oshiomhole to come up with this wicked allegation that Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stole $1billion for President Jonathan’s presidential campaign shows that he lacks ideas and that he is a thief who has been stealing Edo State dry.
I wonder what is wrong with this man? Oshomole if you think you have evidence. Then make a move and stop ranting all over the place. In fact I feel this is a plan by you to cause distraction while you are busy stealing state funds and sending them to Cape Verde. Be sure that we have put systems in place to know every of your transaction as they come into cape verde. Far away Cape verde can’t save you after we throw you dirty ass to public. Every knows the integrity of the person you are talking about, they know that all you are saying is a lie.