Bola Tinubu, the President-elect, has described as misleading, media reports of his response to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State over request for refund of funds spent on building flyovers and federal roads in the state.
Recall that Tinubu had last Wednesday during the commissioning of Rumuokwuta-Rumuola flyover bridge, told Wike to lobby him to get refunds for the monies expended by the state on federal projects.
“On the demand you made for refund, I owe you nothing. It’s your road. You’re the one living on these roads. I commend your efforts. You have to lobby me to collect”, Tinubu had said.
However, clarifying his response, the president-elect said Wike was in order against any shade of interpretation the public was giving to it.
“Whatever you say about owing or no owing, I’m very grateful to the man (Wike) who brought me here. He didn’t ask for personal commitment. He asked for a policy commitment that an incoming president has no authority to offer and approve.
“There can only be one President at a time. I cannot commit to expenditure on behalf of the outgoing President when my tenure has not started. Get educated, be informed, please,” Tinubu told Nigerians as he concluded his two day visit to Rivers State.
Wike had drawn the attention of the federal government towards the need to amend its procurement law in order to end incessant abandonment of projects across the country.
He stressed that some of the flyovers were built on federal roads and the state should be refunded by the FG. He requested the incoming administration to consider a possible refund to the Rivers State.
“These projects are FG’s roads. We don’t want our people to suffer. I believe the Federal Government should say ‘let us refund these monies. I assure you, as you enter office and approve to pay these monies back, other states will also do same thing. So that (refund) is the first request we are making to you.”