Tribune / Nigeria: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State and the Special Assistant to Governor Ayodele Fayose on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, have faulted the criticism of a letter by Fayose, urging the Chinese government not to honour a loan request by the Nigerian government.
The Ekiti PDP, in a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr Jackson Adebayo, said they had chosen to ignore the message and attack the messenger, while also ignoring “the danger inherent in obtaining a loan that will again sentence the nation into another servitude or modern day slavery.”
Adebayo said the hatred for the Fayose’s person had made his critics to take him on, while reiterating that there was something wrong in the loan being sought from China.
“What is the essence of borrowing in the midst of plenty? After all, the Federal Government has announced the discovery of about $200 billion that belongs to Nigeria in United Arab Emirates (UAE), apart from the N1 trillion it said had been saved from the Treasury Single Account (TSA)? PDP believes that only a government with sinister motive will go and borrow even with this wealth,” Adebayo said.
Olayinka, also in a statement he made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti, described the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; deputy national chairman, Chief Segun Oni and others’ criticism of Governor Fayose’s letter as “brazen display of political hypocrisy.”
According to him, “President Buhari’s non-signing of any direct loan agreement with the Chinese government during his visit is a vindication of the governor’s position,” adding that “what Nigeria needs is the collaboration of the government of China in the area of technology transfer, rather than granting loan that will be mismanaged under the guise of building infrastructure.”
Olayinka said “people like Odigie-Oyegun, Oni and Professor Itse Sagay lack moral rights to complain, even if President Mohammadu Buhari is called whatever names, because they never complained when, as a sitting president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan was called unprintable names by APC stalwarts and leaders.”
He said Governor Fayose only exercised his rights as a Nigerian, adding that “where were the likes of Oyegun, Oni, Professor Sagay and others when APC promoted crude politics and anti-Nigeria posturing to an unprecedented level when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power?”
The governor’s spokesperson said since the Federal Government claimed it had recovered and still recovering trillions of Naira allegedly looted from the treasury, there was no need to borrow money from anywhere to finance the 2016 budget.
“With the $200 billion they claimed is coming from Dubai, $700 million raw cash they said was found in Diezani Alison-Madueke’s house, N3 trillion said to have been saved from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and N4.5 trillion the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it will generate this year, what then is the rationale behind the Federal Government seeking any loan?” he queried.
