Presidency shared N36 billion to states for Jonathan’s re-election – APC

by Akintomiwa Agbaje

Lai-Mohammed
Lai Mohammed

States that will not support President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid come 2015 will be financially punished, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged.

Lai Mohammed, the party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, said this on Monday while speaking with newsmen at an NUJ programme tagged  “Media Parliament” in Ilorin, Kwara state.

He said the presidency had allegedly disbursed N2 billion each to 16 states of the federation illegally and that the Presidency has hatched a plan to financially starve states that will not support his re-election bid.

The Daily Independent reports:

Mohammed, who said that APC is in possession of a document that reveals this, alleged disbursement said no APC controlled state is included in the states to benefit from the money.

He alleged that the fund was disbursed to the states the presidency considered to be sympathetic to the alleged ambition of the President to be re-elected in 2015.

He stated: “This shows that the president is a sectional president. He was elected and took Oath of Allegiance to serve the entire nation, irrespective of creed, tribe or section and not to be partisan. Now he is breaking the oath.

“The president is using funds belonging to the entire nation to support states perceived to be sympathetic to his 2015 ambition.”

The APC spokesman also alleged that the benchmark of $74 per barrel for crude oil is also a plot to deprive fund to states opposing alleged re-election ambition of the president.

He said if the benchmark is approved there would be a great reduction in the amount of money to be shared from the federation account with the effect that states would face acute financial crisis.

He said when this happened the Federal Government in making an intervention with excess crude account may favour states in support of the president’s ambition to the detriment of other states.

Mohammed disclosed that the defection of five governors from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC has greatly increased the chances of the APC wining the 2015 presidential election, saying though the party has not yet had the highest number of states, the states it controls are those with highest population.

He explained that while the defecting PDP governors were not discriminated against, they were not given an exceptional privilege of taken over the structure of the APC in their respective states, but only same amount of privilege given the existing APC governors over nomination of candidates to the interim executive of the party in their states.

On the statement credited to the president that no Nigerian politician attained greatness of late former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, Mohammed, while describing Mandela as not just African, but world icon, however advised Jonathan to be cautious of statements that debase the country.

He said what the president said was not a plus for either him or the country he governs, advising that he should rather not talk when he does not know what to say.

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