LG Funds: Ayade Replies Buhari
2 min read
Cross River State governor, Prof Ben Ayade has denied ever tampering with local government allocation. In fact, he has challenged the president, Muhammadu Buhari to name those governors who have been stealing from their local governments.
Spokesman of the governor, Mr Christain Ita said on Saturday that the state couldn’t respond to the president’s allegations because it was not guilty of the offence. He was responding to online questions from TNN on the issue.
This is how the encounter went:
The president has accused governors of stealing from their local governments. How does this sit with the governor of Cross River State?
My brother, like Wike said, the President should mention the governors. It is to blanket a claim. You can’t tar every Governor with the same brush. His claim doesn’t apply to us and as such responding to it will be akin to an old woman becoming uncomfortable when dry bones are mentioned.
People believe Cross River is one of the states that LG funds are tampered with because the chairmen do not have access to 100 per cent of their funds.
Cross River does not tamper with local government funds. Saying that some people believe to the contrary amounts to nothing. Everyone is entitled to have an onion in but not one is entitled to have his own version of the truth.
What per cent are they getting because I am aware that the chairmen do sign out some percentage of their allocation to the state, through the commissioner for LGs. Have the chairmen started getting 100 per cent of their funds?
Your question suggests that they were not getting 100 per cent. Chairmen are getting their funds. If you already have an opinion, which is inaccurate, why then bother to ask for my response? Since you claim to be aware, then asking me the question is pure academic.
