- The APC said the president is playing divisive politics with the nation’s commonwealth
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of using the Ecological Fund, set up to address Nigeria’s serious ecological problems, as a tool to further divide the ranks of the state governors and solidify his reputation as a partisan and sectional leader.
The party, in a statement on Wednesday, said by granting N2 billion each to 17 non-APC states, Mr. Jonathan had betrayed his position as the leader of the whole nation.
The grant was given to 15 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, states and two others – Ondo and Anambra, governed by the Labour Party, LP, and All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, respectively.
The PDP states that benefited from the largesse are Abia, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Plateau, Ebonyi, Delta, Enugu and Taraba States.
The Ecological Fund was created in Nigeria in 1981 to be used to intervene in areas where the most common environmental disasters like flood, erosion and desert encroachment occur.
APC wondered the kind of coincidence that would exclude all the APC-controlled states from being considered for receiving assistance from the Ecological Fund even when they (APC governors) also sought for such assistance.
The opposition party recalled that before the assistance to the 17 states, N5 billion had been given to Akwa Ibom State “for urgent matters” and another N8 billion to Anambra State “for the maintenance of the Niger Bridge.”
It alleged that the N8 billion given to Anambra State may have been used to fund the November 16 governorship election by that state governor, Peter Obi.
”To the best of our knowledge, even if 8 billion naira is not enough to construct a second Niger bridge, it will go a long way,” APC stressed.
“We are yet to see any maintenance to justify such a huge fund that was given for that purpose, further confirming our fears on what the real purpose of that money might have been.
”It is sad that a President whose divisive politics helped to break the ranks of the nation’s State Governors has now graduated to using funds from the Federation Account to dispense favours to Governors he perceive to be his cronies.
”This is the tragedy of a President who was elected on a pan-Nigerian mandate but has now turned himself to a sectional, partisan and most divisive leader in the country’s history.”
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