The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state of opposing the Single Treasury Account (TSA) policy of the Federal Government as a deliberate ploy to conceal fraud.
It expressed outrage at Fayose’s conduct as the only governor that has so far opposed the transparency policy of the Federal Government even as all other governors had keyed into it for the purpose of saving their states from fraudulent practices among government officials.
The APC Publicity Secretary in Ekiti state, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement, described Fayose’s recalcitrant attitude as portraying Ekiti State as an island, saying that this is a dangerous and reckless behavior.
The statement said that the governor’s aversion for accountability in financial matters had ulterior motive to allegedly defraud the state.
“TSA is aimed at ensuring that all government earnings are paid into a single account to ensure accountability and check fraud unlike in the past where several governments’ accounts were scattered in many banks to perpetrate frauds.
“For a governor who describes himself as a friend of the poor to oppose a policy that will make the same poor people enjoy the benefits of transparent governance is the height of irresponsibility and a confirmation of allegations of fraud against the governor in his handling of financial issues.
“We can now see the reason why the governor has opened several channels of revenue collections to be paid into several phony accounts that revenue collection officers are describing as opaque.
“We all know that Governor Fayose’s second coming to the Ekiti State Government House is for nothing but to feather his bottomless pocket, kill the dream of a better Ekiti State and destroy the dignity and legacies of Ekiti fore-fathers as we have seen him do in his several cloudy conducts in governance.
“As we speak, Fayose’s administration keeps a secret account not known to the state treasury into which taxes and fines he has mindlessly imposed on Ekiti people are paid, notably fines on traffic offences and suffocating taxes he imposed on poor traders that he deceived with abundance of life during campaigns.
“After sacking thousands of workers in youth empowerment scheme and permanent secretaries; after cutting monarchs’ and workers’ allowances and running grants and after stopping funding the social security scheme for the elderly and security agencies but increased his personal monthly security vote from N100m to N250, Fayose hired less than 200 political appointees as against over 800 appointees by Governor Kayode Fayemi, yet he tells Ekiti people that he pays the same N2.6 billion that Fayemi paid as salaries and allowances to workers monthly.” Olatunbosun explained that the reason for Fayose’s opposition to TSA is to hide these details to perpetrate fraud, and that there is no way the governor could have been paying the same bill Fayemi paid as monthly wages to workers.
“Fayose has no explanation to make to Ekiti people on how he spent N22b refund on federal road projects, the N2b ecological fund, several billions of naira statutory allocations to the state and LGAS and N9.1 bailout cash, among others.
“Fayose has not said anything about the Internally Generated Revenue of the state, which he has embarked upon with an aggressive drive thereby bringing untold hardship on the citizens. What of the school fees he introduced in primary and secondary schools, including high fees in tertiary institutions?”
Olatunbosun alleged that the government ran several fictitious accounts on the alleged instructions of the governor, saying that this is a practice that must not go unchallenged by the people who would be ultimate beneficiaries of TSA policy being promoted by the Federal Government.
“We wish to draw the attention of Governor Fayose to the fact that Ekiti State cannot be an island in the country by refusing to abide with the financial regulations of the Federal Government, failure of which the state will face the usual threat of theft as we experienced during the governor’s first tenure.
“Fayose has gone his usual way of blackmailing the Federal Government in order to cover his own fraudulent actions and motives.
“We call on all Ekiti citizens home and abroad to call the governor to order to stop his unnecessary belligerent attitude to the Federal Government simply because he belongs to the opposition.
“Fayose’s attitude will cause dire consequences on the hapless citizens of the state, as corporate organisations planning to invest in the state will think twice on the governor bitterly averse to transparency while at the same time unleashing taxes that cannot be accounted for.
“Once again, we call on the EFCC, the CBN and ICPC to beam their searchlights on Ekiti State’s various fictitious accounts that Fayose prefers to a single accounting system that checks frauds. “We are confident that the findings of these agencies will reveal the reason why Fayose is opposed to the TSA policy.” [myad]
