- Knocks Tinubu’s ‘voodoo economy’ over N250bn NLNG Clash
BY VICTOR BUORO – Amid frantic denials from the Presidency, the Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has dared the Federal Government to publish full financial records proving it paid the N250 billion Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) dividends due to states.
Clearly escalating the alleged billions in missing gas dividends into an all-out political war, the opposition MDPCO threw down a high-stakes financial challenge to the Presidency, insisting the funds are being mischievously withheld as claimed by Governor Seyi Makinde.
The MDPCO, which is driving Makinde’s presidential project under the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), dismissed the government’s defence as a desperate smoke screen, designed to dodge transparency and divert public scrutiny away from the missing billions.
The campaign organization said no amount of bravado and half-baked public denial can excuse the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration from being accountable in explaining its massive, unauthorized withholding of local funds.
A statement issued on Sunday by its Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Nnanna Ihediwa, the MDPCO accused the government of illegally squeezing state finances by withholding vital funds, insisting the President must establish if the dividends in question have been paid to the states, rather than engage in what it described as personal attacks against Makinde.
The statement said: “If the Tinubu Presidency claims that Makinde is wrong in his assertion that N250 billion NLNG dividend meant for states is being withheld, we challenge President Tinubu to directly tell Nigerians if the said dividends have been paid to the states.”
According to the MDPCO, the Presidency’s argument about NLNG’s cumulative dividend payments over the past 25 years did not resolve the specific question of how much was received during the period under discussion and what amount was approved for distribution to the states.
It said in order to clear all doubts about its financial dealings regarding the controversial funds, the President should publish all relevant NLNG dividend receipts, decisions of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and official communications detailing the amounts received, approved for distribution and scheduled for payment.
Maintaining that Nigerians deserved answers to three key questions: How much NLNG paid in dividends during the period in question?, How much was credited to the Federation Account?, and How much was approved for distribution to the states?, the Campaign organization further said, “Historical totals cannot, by themselves, establish the amount received during a specific period and the sum available for distribution.”
Furthermore, the MDPCO said only the relevant financial records could establish whether payments had been delayed or withheld, stressing that Oyo State Governor and APM Presidential candidate, Engineer Makinde “is known for his integrity”
Not backing down from its demand that the Presidency must be accountable and transparent, the statement said of Governor Makinde: “He is not given to propaganda and disinformation which are the known stock-in-trade and policy direction of the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration. He has maintained a clean, issue-based campaign devoid of mudslinging, misinformation, disinformation and propaganda for which the APC is known.
“The MDPCO stands by Engr. Makinde in his assertion that President Tinubu is running a voodoo economy where government thrive on lies, where the national fortunes only improve on papers with no corresponding improvement in the harsh everyday life of citizens under his administration.
“In any event, our campaign is aware that President Tinubu and his APC have been jittery and restless over Engr. Makinde’s soaring popularity and the widespread acceptance of his RESET NIGERIA Agenda message across the nation since the commencement of the campaign.”
Upping the ante on trust and credibility ahead of the 2027 general elections, the MDPCO said:
“The Tinubu Presidency is disturbed because Nigerians have identified Engr. Makinde as a credible alternative to President Tinubu, leading to the massive surge to his campaign and the APM.
“It should therefore come to terms with the fact that no amount of propaganda and lies against Engr. Makinde will help President Tinubu at this time.”
Giving the presidency a black eye in its delivery, the MDPCO said: “Instead of coming clean on why the fund is withheld, the Tinubu Presidency in its characteristic resort to lies, falsehood, distortions and propaganda left the issue to play around with unsupported figures in the bid to hoodwink Nigerians and divert public attention from this constitutional violation and assault on the states.”
