FG approved $1 billion to fight Boko Haram, not Governors

Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, has expressed his displeasure with the

The governor took to his Twitter account on Friday, December 15, 2017, to disavow any involvement in the decision.

The governor said the approval was pointless because the Federal Government has always claimed that Boko Haram has been defeated.

He further accused the Federal Government of trying to use the money to fund President Muhammadu Buhari's 2019 reelection campaign.

He tweeted, "For posterity sake, I wish to place it on record that I was not among the governors, who approved the withdrawal of $1bn, almost half of our savings in the Excess Crude Account, which belongs to the three tiers of govt to fight an already defeated Boko Haram.

"Since they said they have defeated Boko Haram, what else do they need a whopping sum of $1 billion (over N360 billion) for; if not to fund President Buhari's re-election in 2019?

"The APC promised to wipe out Boko Haram within six months, now it is 31 months and what the APC government is wiping out is the economy of Nigeria and the means of livelihood of the people.

"N360bn is equivalent to what the Federation Account Allocation Committee share to the FG, 36 States and 777 LGs monthly. Nigerians deserve proper explanations from the FG on the rationale behind spending such huge sum of money to fight an already defeated Boko Haram."

"They told Nigerians that the decision to withdraw $1bn from the Excess Crude Account was taken by governors of the 36 States, whereas, it was solely the idea of the federal government, which they used the arranged National Executive Council meeting to achieve.

"The question is; how can the federal government alone spend almost half of the Excess Crude money that belongs to the three tiers of government (i.e. Federal Government, States and Local Councils)?

"The reality is that our treasury is daily being looted in readiness for the 2019 elections. Nigerians are therefore alerted to this lootings by the APC led FG to amass huge fund for the 2019 elections under the pretense of fighting Boko Haram as well as other dubious means."

The decision was disclosed by Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting held inside the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

While speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, Obaseki said the approval was announced by Zamfara State governor, Abdulaziz Yari, who's the chairman of the NGF.

While speaking earlier, Gombe State governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, disclosed that the Excess Crude Account had a balance of $2.317 billion as at December 13, 2017.

Boko Haram menace

Since the insurgency of the terrorist group escalated after a 2009 crackdown by the military, Boko Haram, chiefly under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau, has been responsible for the death of over 20,000 people and the displacement of more than 2.5 million scattered across Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps across the country and its neighbours.

After a massive military operation resulted in the displacement of the group from its primary base in the infamous Sambisa Forest, it has resorted to suicide bomb attacks on soft targets and carried out daring attacks on military bases, with hundreds of captives still unaccounted for.