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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