Governor to FG: You're Blackmailing Us
Corruption
From Chuks Okocha in Abuja and John Iwori in Yenagoa
Against the backdrop of accusations that governors were looting the funds allocated to their states, Nasarawa State Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, has challenged the federal government to name governors involved, as it has the ability and capability to do so.
The governor, who spoke for his colleagues, argued that a continued silence on the matter was capable of robbing off on their families and the good names which some of them had built over the years before becoming governors.
Speaking with newsmen, Abdullahi said "I repeat today that if there is a genuine allegation based on facts that anybody, not just the Minister of State for Finance or the Minister of Finance, anybody for that matter, says that Governor X, after the Federation Account for so, so month, you had this money allocated to your state, you took so much money whether into one foreign account somewhere or you did whatever with it without service to your state or providing service to your state, I believe the Federal Government and its operatives have enough capacity, the wherewithal to identify such governors and to be able to tell Nigerians that Governor X is doing ABCD with the state's funds."
He also called on anyone who has information of governors looting their state's fund to come out and say it, instead of this 'over generalizing' that governors are thieves.
According to the Nasarawa governor "I believe that anybody who has this kind of information, first and foremost, holds his or her conscience a duty to make public such a person and where those funds are; and, then, of course, the second duty is to the country.
The first is to your conscience: you know something that is factual, that is of public interest and you are a public officer under oath, I think this shadow fighting is not right."
Otherwise, he said, "It is not fair; and there are quite a number of governors who could be innocent and have family name to protect, who have got names that they have built over the years through hard work. When you gather people together and you give them blanket condemnation, it is not fair. It does not give them the encouragement to feel there is a difference between being good and being bad."
"It is against divine injunction to smear the character of that one single Governor who may be good and who is being taken along all the other governors that are being condemned. " Abdullahi Adamu stated.
On the operation of a joint account between the states and local governments, the governors said that PDP intervened and saw that in most cases, people are misrepresenting the facts.
Meanwhile the legal action instituted by the 19 Northern governors and three of their South-West counterparts seeking to abrogate the offshore/onshore dichotomy act has been described as a calculated attempt to disintegrate the corporate existence of the country.
Chief Whip, Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon. Robert Enogha who made the assertion in the sate capital, Yenagoa at the weekend maintained that the suit was aimed at causing crisis and confusion that would eventually lead to the disintegration of Nigeria.
The legislator who represents Ogbia constituency II in the House contended that there was no justification for instituting a suit on a law that has entered the statute books as an act of parliament.
According to the Enogha who is the immediate past Personal Assistant to the state deputy governor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the action of the 22 governors was not only dangerous to national unity and cohesion, but would also have a multiplier effect beyond the expectations of the plaintiff.
He enjoined the governors to withdraw the suit in the interest of peace and harmony, emphasising that Nigeria as a culturally plural society took the colonialists several years to weld the various ethnic nationalities together.
He pointed out that the plight of the north was not a recent development as the colonial administrators supplemented its income through grants and special concessions.
The Chief Whip questioned the motive behind the suit initiated by the 22 governors, even as he advised them to explore other areas to boost their internal revenue.
According to him, it is better for the northern governors to look for alternative means of generating income, instead of relying solely on the monthly allocation from the federation account.
"It is amazing that these governors cannot be their brother's keepers, by appreciating the neglect and devastation of the environment of the oil producing communities.
"We all share the benefits of oil but it is only the oil bearing communities that bear the burden of oil spillage, acid rain, environmental degradation, pollution and the raping of our young girls by the multinational oil workers operating in the Niger Delta region", he said.
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