The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kwara State has described as diversionary tactics the declaration on Thursday that N11.9 billion was missing from the treasury of the state between the years of 2011 and 2019.
The period falls under the regime of former state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed.
In a statement issued on Friday, the leading opposition party in the state, PDP, in a statement by its publicity secretary, Prince ‘Tunji Moronfoye, said the declaration by the state government was to take attention away from alleged corruption going on in the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration.
The statement reads: “The Kwara state Peoples Democratic party (PDP) is amused by the antics of the Kwara state All Progressives Congress (APC), an abysmally corrupt, deceptive party, forever inclined towards the mediocre, suddenly announcing a missing N11.9 Billion Naira from the treasury of the Kwara State Government between the years of 2011 and 2019. The governor that held sway at the helm of affairs during the period mentioned was His Excellency, Alh. Abdulfatah Ahmed.
“We at the PDP would like to point out to the painfully incompetent Kwara state APC regime that Kwarans already know their unholy diversionary tactics. The mediocre regime still hopes that they can put former administrations with better records on the defensive by coming up with disjointed and badly patched narratives, as well as accusations of wrongdoing, so as to divert attention of the people from the accusations of their own alleged daily corruption sleaze.
“Perhaps the regime hopes that Kwarans have forgotten about the forensic audit report of the arbitrarily sacked Kwara State Auditor General which indicted the current regime’s non-accountability of over Six Billion Naira (N6B) in a financial year or the recent revelations how a company – Best International Energy Services Ltd, was awarded a contract letter, on 24th May, 2021, for the supply of 35 Beltransfo transformers of various capacities through Direct purchase for close to Two hundred Million Naira, (N200M) without a Bank Guarantee. The saga which was underpinned by the illegality of fund release to the contractor before the contract award letter was even issued, a clear contravention of the Procurement Act, punishable under the law. This is hypocrisy at the highest level.
READ ALSO: ‘N11.9bn stolen from Kwara treasury between 2011 and 2019’
“We at the PDP wonder when the corruption loving, APC regime known to be perpetually yoked to impunity and wanton theft of state resources, will take action against itself before pointing accusing fingers at the previous administrations of the state.
“The Kwara APC regime should tell Kwarans why and how this new external “forensic audit” of the state government took as long as three years and four months before results were released, and strangely when the regime is facing various accusations of alleged mass corruption and incompetence. This is a regime that has never stopped reminding Kwarans of a phantom diversion of Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N450M) SUBEB funds from the second it took over office in 2019.
“Kwarans were witness to innumerable innovative ideas hatched during the 8 year regime of Alh. Abdulfatah Ahmed, one example is the establishment of the Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS), an institution that eventually became a cash cow for this clueless APC regime. Another example is the Infrastructure Funds for Kwara (IFK), an ingenious idea which saved Five Hundred Million Naira (N500m) from the inflow of the Kwara state government monthly, to pay contractors quarterly for capital projects being executed. These two innovative funds generation and funds management ideas were hatched during a period when the government practiced separation of power and the theory of checks and balances, as should be in a democratic setting.”
