Omokri: Yari has vindicated Jonathan, Okonjo-Iweala on ECA withdrawal

Reno Omokri, former aide of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, says Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara, has vindicated his principal and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with his comments on withdrawals from the excess crude account.

Governors recently approved the withdrawal of $1 billion from the excess crude account to fund the fight against Boko Haram.

This generated reactions from various quarters and Yari, in defence of the decision, had said the Jonathan administration withdrew $2 billion after the governors’ forum consented.

In a statement shared with TheCable, Omokri said Yari’s statement negates claims made by some APC chieftains that the decision to withdraw the money was opposed.

“Notice from this statement that Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, an APC member, is now admitting that he and his colleagues in the APC all agreed to the withdrawal of $2 billion from the excess crude account that was made in 2014. Note further that he said there was no controversy and no opposition to the decision taken in 2014,” Omokri wrote.

“However, Nigerians may recall that at the material time when this incident occurred, both the All Progressive Congress and its prominent members like the then Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, the then Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, and their national leader, Bola Tinubu, denied that there was ever any agreement with the Jonathan administration over the withdrawals and publicly attacked the then president and accused him of looting and other forms of corruption.”

He said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former minister for the economy, was also described as a liar when she made the same statement in 2015.

Omokri said Adam Oshiomhole made a similar claim in an interview he granted Channels TV in July 2015.

He said: “Again, at the material time in 2014, when the Jonathan administration tried to explain why it needed the funds to fight the same Boko Haram insurgents that the Buhari government claimed has been technically defeated, the APC released a statement and ‘described as disingenuous and sheer blackmail the argument that the money is for national security or that it would facilitate the release of the over 200 school girls who were abducted about 100 days ago.’

“Lai Mohammed also claimed that the monies then President Jonathan was seeking was meant to be used to impeach APC governors and rig the 2015 elections.

“But in keeping with the principle that no matter how far and fast falsehood has traveled, it must eventually be overtaken by truth, Yari has now vindicated both former President Jonathan and the former minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, by admitting in 2017 that both he and his colleagues (which included Rotimi Amaechi and Adams Oshiomhole) actually agreed with the Jonathan administration to withdrew $2 billion from the excess crude account in 2014.”