[HOT NEWS] $1bn: Govs Yari, Fayose disagree at Aso Rock

The recent approval of $1billion from the Excess Crude Account by the Nigerian Governors Forum for the fight against insurgency raised dusts yesterday after an emergency meeting between governors and speakers of state assemblies at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The chairman of the governors’ forum, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State and his Ekiti counterpart, Ayo Fayose, disagreed while addressing State House reporters after the meeting.

Before Yari briefed journalists on the outcome of the meeting, some governors, including Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa) Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) were seen calming Fayose.

Fayose, while addressing journalists outside the venue of the meeting, said he had gone to court to challenge the approval of the fund, vowing that he would never support it.

“I’m not in support of $1 billion and will never be in support. In my state we have agreed to go to court to contest this. It is our legitimate right, all accruals to the federation must be shared by the three tiers of government and for me to get justice I have to go to court,” he said.

Yari, while leaving the Banquet Hall of the Villa, told journalists that 32 governors met in November and approved $1bn from the Excess Crude Account for the security of the entire nation.

Yari said $2 billion was withdrawn from the same account in 2014 during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan for a similar purpose without “any resolution from the state assemblies.”

Earlier, Yari had said yesterday’s meeting with speakers was on the ongoing efforts to amend certain sections of the 1999 constitution.

He said the meeting agreed to approach the amendment with maturity with the future of the country’s democracy at heart.