Yari: Buhari will never divert public funds for election… Fayose is on his own

Abdullaziz Yari, chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), says Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti, “is on his own”.

On Friday, Fayose said he was not part of the governors who approved the withdrawal of $1 billion from the excess crude account (ECA) to fight Boko Haram.

The governor alleged that the sum was withdrawn in preparation for President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection bid in 2019.

But in a statement on Saturday, Yari said the decision of the governors to approve the withdrawal of the sum was a “collective one”.

He said Buhari would never divert public funds for the purpose of election.

“I am saying that statement was an unfair cut against the forum,” Yari said.

“When a decision is taken by the forum in one’s absence, once there was a quorum at the meeting where the decision was taken, becomes binding on all.

“I am sure Fayose was not making the statement to undermine the forum. He was just doing his thing.”

According to him, lack of unity between the presidency and governors in the past led to poor governance.

He said there is now a synergy, and as such, “no one should constitute a wedge in the process”.

It read: “You can never spend too much on security because the safety of lives and property are the most cardinal among all the principles of governance, in any democracy.

“If governor Fayose was there at the meeting, he would have seen the wisdom in the decision. Yes, the administration is claiming to have decimated the insurgents out of Sambisa forest but they are reemerging in different flashpoints across the country.

“They need to be tackled wherever they are and the NGF decided to support the presidency just as it (the presidency) had been supporting states with their own problems.

“Governor Fayose is on his own. We have to protect our people and we have to do it with everything we have.

“Let me reemphasize one more thing, Mr President is a responsible and honest leader who does not believe in money politics and never divert public resources into it.”