The Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, and his Ekiti State counterpart, Ayo Fayose, have again disagreed on the approval for the withdrawal of $1 billion for the fight against the Bokom Haram insurgency and equipping the military.
The two disagreed on Tuesday when they spoke with newsmen after a meeting of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, which Yari chairs, and the Nigerian Conference of Speakers in Abuja.
The approval to withdraw the $1 billion, which ought to have been shared by the country’s three tiers of government, was given by the governors last week at the National Economic Council meeting.
Yari, who fielded questions on the approval on Tuesday, said the State Houses of Assembly would soon back up the approval through appropriate resolutions.
He said: “We (governors) agreed to forfeit $1 billion of our own share of excess crude, which we are going to back up with state assembly resolution at a later time.
“This is not the first time a decision like this is being taken.
“It happened during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s era when they took $2 billion.
“We all agreed at that time collectively in the same chamber to withdraw the $2billion to procure equipment for the military and also for logistics for the military because they were telling us whether it was true or false that our soldiers were being killed.
“Some (of the soldiers) were on the social media saying that they were being killed like rats because they didn’t have the training and the equipment.
“That was what generated discussions at the same Chamber and there was no controversy, there was no opposition to the decision at that time.”
Also speaking on the issue, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, said he was not in support of the withdrawal the $1 billion and will never be in support.
Fayose said: “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.”
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