$418m Paris Club Refund: Govs Slam Malami’s Claims As Fraudulent, Self-Serving

• Vow to challenge purported fees at Supreme Court

BY EDMOND ODOK – The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has accused the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami of being fraudulent and self-serving in insisting that contractors be paid a whopping $418 million as consultancy fees.

Maintaining that the Minister’s position runs foul of the overall public interest, the governors vowed to explore all available constitutional and legal means to ensure the purported consultancies are fully litigated by the Supreme Court for justice and equity.

Chairman of the NGF and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi delivered the Governors’ position in a communique issued at the end of their meeting held at the State House, Abuja, where they deliberated on issues of national importance.

The communique said the “Governors extensively reviewed the purported attempts by the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Finance, to circumvent the law and a recent judgment of the Supreme Court to secure the approval of the federal legislative council to effect illegal payment of a sum of $418 million to contractors who allegedly executed consultancy in respect to the Paris Club refund, to state and local governments.

“The Forum set up a committee comprising the chairman, the Governor of Ekiti State, the Vice Chairman, the Governor of Ondo State, the Governor of Plateau State, the Governor of Nasarawa state, and the Governor of Ebonyi State to interface with the committee set up by Mr President to review the matter.

“But the position of the Governors’ Forum is clear and unequivocal. Although this matter is sub judice and we are very reluctant to get in the way of a matter that is still being pursued in court.

“We are constrained by the manner in which the honourable Attorney General has been going around various media houses and purporting to create the impression that this is a liability to which Governors had committed themselves to and agreed to, even though he is very much aware that that’s not the case.

“And we reject all of the claims that he has made on this issue. And we also insist that states will not give up on insisting that these purported claims are fraudulent and will not stand, as far as governors are concerned.”

Insisting that they would not allow such claims to go unchallenged, the NGF further vowed; “And we would take every constitutional and legal means to ensure that these purported consultancies are fully litigated upon by the highest court in the land. If the court now finds the governors, and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and States liable, then we will cross that bridge when get there.

“As far as we are concerned, this is a matter that Governors feel very strongly about and we do not believe that the Attorney General of the Federation is acting in the public interest. We believe he (Malami) is acting in a personal, selfish interest that will ultimately become clear when this matter is fully addressed, in the law court.”

Addressing issues around the ongoing face-off between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government now in its sixth month, the NGF urged both parties to sheath their sword and reach an amicable resolution in the interest of suffering Nigerian students.

According to the Communique; “On the prolonged strike by Nigerian universities, the forum encourages the federal government and the academic staff union of universities to find meaningful resolutions to the lingering impasse and as proposed to engage with both parties just as we have done in the past in a bid to end the strike.”

On the current State of the economy and security situation in the country, the governors, after deliberating extensively on the presentation made by a member of the President’s Economic Advisory Council, Bismarck Rewane, “resolved to immediately engage with the Federal Government and other critical stakeholders, Labour, the Presidential Candidates of political parties and corporate actors on finding resolutions and suggestion to implement a set of immediate actions to ameliorate the worsening economic conditions in the country.”

The NGF’s reaction comes on the heels of the Justice Minister’s recent State House Ministerial briefing where he claimed the governors initially created the liability and even indemnified the payment, maintaining that the “noise making that is now being generated arising from the Governors forum” is unjustified and uncalled for.