Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has released documents he claims shows that Oyo State received N50 billion from the Federal Government as intervention funds following the January 16th 2024 explosion in Ibadan.
Fayose made the disclosure on Sunday in a statement, two days after stating during a television programme that the funds were released to the Oyo State Government under Governor Seyi Makinde.
NPO reports that Makinde had challenged him to provide evidence to support the claim.
Fayose said the documents released were in response to the governor’s request for proof that the money was received.
Although, NPO Reports observed that the letter was cropped, therefore leaving out who signed it.
He alleged that out of the N50 billion intervention fund, only N4.5 billion was released to victims of the Ibadan explosion.
He further accused Governor Makinde of diverting the remaining funds to pursue personal political ambitions, including a presidential aspiration, which he claimed has contributed to the ongoing crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the governor’s criticisms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Federal Government.
Fayose said he decided to make the documents public in the interest of transparency and accountability, despite his usual reluctance to disclose official government records. He added that the disclosure was necessary to allow Nigerians judge who is being truthful on the matter.
“Meanwhile, only N4.5bn was released to victims of the Ibadan Explosion. Rather, he diverted this fund and many others to his Presidential ambition, which is the reason for the crisis in the PDP and his attacks on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his government.”
He also challenged Governor Makinde to seek legal redress if his claims were false, insisting that he could substantiate his allegations. Fayose further claimed that there were additional intervention funds received by the Oyo State Government from the Tinubu administration that had not been disclosed to the public.
“Lastly, I challenge Governor Seyi Makinde to sue me on this. Let me also tell him that there are proofs of other intervention funds received from Tinubu’s administration by the Oyo State Government, which the governor refused to disclose to the people.”
The former governor added that there were also documents relating to Oyo State’s actual Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which he said differed from figures publicly stated by the governor.
“Also, there are documentary evidences on the actual Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Oyo State, as against Governor Makinde’s claim, but we will keep our gunpowder dry for now. My name is still Ayo Fayose, I don’t say what I can’t prove.”