$1 Billion Campaign Funds: Oshiomhole’s Allegations Lacks Credibility-Okonjo-Iweala

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The allegation by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that former
Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $1 billion out of the
Excess Crude Account to fund the re-election bid of former President
Jonathan is the kind of ludicrously false statement that has unfortunately
become a trademark of the Governor in his public campaign of falsehood
against Dr Okonjo-Iweala.
The statement is just another example of the numerical diarrhea that seems
to have afflicted His Excellency in recent times in his effort to damage
the reputation of the former Minister.

He has, within the last few months, asked Dr Okonjo-Iweala to explain all
kinds of totally wild and unsubstantiated figures, ranging from $30
billion, $20 billion, $2.1 billion, N720 billion and now $1 billion.
To say the obvious, the accusations are totally lacking in credibility.
Governor Oshiomhole’s published comments also contain other falsehoods.
For instance, he quoted Dr Okonjo-Iweala as saying that she and the
Finance Commissioners of the 36 states approved the spending of $2.1
billion out of the Excess Crude Account, adding that the Commissioners had
disowned the statement. This is also a complete distortion.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala never said the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee
(FAAC) approved spending out of the ECA. Rather as the Commissioners
themselves stated, the former Minister of State Finance informed them that
former President Jonathan approved the expenditure to end the debilitating
fuel queues across the country.
As Nigerians know, the Finance Ministry under Okonjo-Iweala regularly
published details of revenue allocations from the ECA in national media.
So Oshiomhole’s tortured “calculations” based on his “four figure tables”
are mere political numbers conjured to achieve a political purpose.
Nigerians can see through the elaborate antics.
Governor Oshiomhole’s latest statement, like earlier ones, labours to give
the impression that the entire FAAC process which involves the Federal
Government and the 36 states of the Federation is a personal monopoly of
Dr Okonjo-Iweala.
This is, of course not true. FAAC is a long standing national platform for
allocating revenues chaired by the Minister of State Finance. The
governor’s insistence on pushing this clearly fictional narrative
underscores his desperation.
It is instructive that Governor Oshiomhole is a key member of the
committee set up by the National Economic Council to investigate the ECA
spending. His continuing attacks against Dr Okonjo-Iweala seem to suggest
that he has lost confidence in this platform which he deployed to make
some of his initial false and baseless allegations. The Governor does not
seem to appreciate that he is undermining the very credibility of the
committee.
Once again, we ask: why are Oshiomhole and his cohorts so ready to
sacrifice truth, precedent and decency in this political witch hunt
against Dr Okonjo-Iweala?
We are confident that they will fail because truth will triumph.
Paul C Nwabuikwu
Media Adviser to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala