UBEC Fund: Abdulrazaq Govt Feedings Kwarans With Lies – Banu

Former commissioner for finance in Kwara state and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party , Engr Ademola Nurudeen Banu has berated Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq administration for continuously telling lies to public about the controversial UBEC fund.

Banu noted that the Governor lacks good conscience for his continued blackmail of Dr Bukola Saraki , using false accusation about UBEC fund being misappropriated and embezzled.

Banu, while debunking UBEC fund embezzlement claim, said , it was understandable when  Abdulrahman was in opposition, but not pardonable after he had become the Governor with access to all information about government financial transactions

He said for the Governor to still be claiming UBEC fund was misappropriated or embezzled by some people , when he knows fully well, how and what the fund was used for , is a deliberate attempt to assassinate innocent people’s characters and hide the truth from the public

Explaining how the fund was used, Banu said the state’s part of the counterparts fund was borrowed to augment workers salaries when the state was facing financial crisis in 2015 occasioned by the recessive economy of the country .

He said every action taken in respect of the fund was for the interest of the ordinary Kwarans especially workers in the state . He added that N550 million was refunded to UBEC in phases before the last administration draws its curtain while the balance of N450 million was refunded by the current government from the N8.5 billion left at the exit of the last administration. It is a pertinent to remind the clueless government that there are other sources of funding of education in the state aside UBEC.

He added that all transactions were well documented and followed necessary fiscal regulations of the state .

He challenged Abdulrazaq government to publish the memo dated 12th January,2015 captioned : REQUEST FOR APPROVAL FOR A LOAN OF N1 BILLION FROM THE STATE COUNTERPART FUND CONTRIBUTION FROM SUBEB TO AUGUMENT PAYMENT OF WORKERS SALARY , to public and allow Kwarans to be the judges if truly the fund ended up in anybody pocket.

The chartered accountant said the extent to which Abdulrazaq is ready to blackmail notable actors of past administration is alarming and call for concern . He said for the Executive governor to claim publicly that Dr Bukola Saraki as senate President, shielded officials of past administration from EFCC probe is not only mischievous but laughable.

Banu said apart from the fact that Dr Bukola Saraki was prosecuted and taken to court by the EFCC even as senate President , the Governor has tried every possible means to get at him but the clean record left behind continues to put Saraki ahead

While hinting on plan by Abdulrazaq government to use security agencies to silence him and other topnotch opposition members ahead of Saturdays elections, Banu urges the security agencies not to allow their institution to be used to truncate democratic processes which the president has vowed to uphold.