Use 1bn to fight hunger, Fayose tells FG; accses it of plan to increase fuel price

From Jimoh Joseph, Ado-Ekiti
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has asked the Federal Government to use the  $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) which it planned to use to fight insurgency to fight hunger ‘haram’ in the land.
He also gave the hint that he will challenge the decision of the FG to withdraw the money that belongs to all tiers of government.
He stated this in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday when he hosted Christian clerics at an interactive forum.
The governor said there were many other pressing issues that the government ought to tackle instead of dissipating energy and scarce resources on a group that Nigerians had been told was already technically defeated.
” In the first instance, the money belongs to the federal, state and local governments and if anything would b taken out of it, it must be with support and agreement of all tiers. If there is any tier that is not interested in spending the money in a particular manner, the total amount must be calculated and the said tier of government be given its appropriate money.
“States and local governments have peculiar needs and many are finding it difficult to meet their constitutional obligations. There are many ‘harams’ in the land that we must fight and hunger is one of them,” he said.
In another statement issued by one of his aides, the Governor clams that the federal government is creating artificial scarcity in the premium motor spirit (petrol) supply chain as a prelude to increasing its price per litre by N40..
The governor said, “petrol is scarce across the country because the federal government deliberately reduced supply since it is only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
that is importing the product.”
Governor Fayose’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New
Media, Lere Olayinka, quoted him as saying that “Allowing fuel scarcity to persist for over two weeks
when Nigerians are preparing to celebrate Christmas and New Year is
the height of wickedness on the part of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) federal government.
“Funny enough, instead of directing its anger to President Muhammadu
Buhari, who is the Minister of Petroleum, on December 7, 2017, the
Federal Executive Council (FEC) chose to give the Minister of State
for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu seven days ultimatum to end the fuel
scarcity. Today is December 17, exactly ten days after the misplaced
ultimatum was given, the situation has even gotten worse.”
He said “By the time the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) goes on strike as being threatened, the whole country will be shut down and one wonders what will become of Nigerians that desire to move around during the festive season.”
Governor Fayose, who said it was necessary for the federal government
to tell Nigerians the truth about the situation of fuel supply in the
country, noted that it was the restriction of supply of petrol to NNPC
alone that has put Nigerians into hardship.
He said, “It is only the NNPC that is bringing products in; and the
result is the scarcity being experienced now. The thinking is that by the time the scarcity persists for like one month, with Nigerians already buying at N200 per litre, the people will jump at it if petrol is increased from N145 to N185 per litre.
“This time, Nigerians will resist any attempt to further impoverish
them by increasing the pump price of petrol.”
Speaking on his support for his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, as his preferred candidate for the coming governorship election in the state, Fayose told Christian leaders on Sunday that the day he got divine confirmation about Olusola, he called him and the person he initially thought would be the choice to a meeting at the Government House.
“I later took the two[contact-form][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Website” type=”url” /][contact-field label=”Message” type=”textarea” /][/contact-form] leaders in the state and explained what God said and that God said I should not delay in making the decision public. I was asked what would become of the person who thought he was the anointed candidate and I replied that only God could answer that.
” Yes, when I first came to office, I said me and my deputy would leave together but God said that was not His decision and gave me the assurance that if it is a divine project, nobody would be able p stop it and that is my belief,” he added.
Fayose said he also called the clerics to thank them for their support and that they were not using their anointing against the government.
He also charged them to fish out bad eggs from among them.
Earlier, the Special Adviser, Religious Matters to the Governor, Pastor Seyi Olusola, said the governor would not toy with issues relating to religious leaders.
In his remarks, the State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Reverend Rotimi Orikogbe, thanked the governor for his support and said the body had dedicated a day to always gather and pray for the state.