The minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has lambasted the Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose over his recent statements that the All Progressives Congress is using funds from the Treasury Single Account to rig the Kogi and Bayelsa elections.
But the minister dismissed as a contrived distraction the alleged fraud in the TSA and the rumoured diversion of the funds to bankroll elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, the minister said if those behind the accusation had allowed themselves some measure of honesty, they would have realized that there has not and there will be no such impunity under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, the minister said: ‘’It is understandable that the psyche of those who are making the frivolous allegations concerning the TSA has been badly affected by the impunity that permeated the country under the immediate past Administration, when unappropriated funds were freely used to finance elections and the public till was seen as an extension of personal piggy banks.
“‘But the lies that have been wilfully disseminated by scandalmongers over the TSA cannot and will not fly, because it was precisely to put an end to such impunity that Nigerians voted massively for President Muhammadu Buhari, who has an unblemished reputation for integrity, due process, transparency and the rule of law.’’
The minister assured Nigerians that no one has tampered with the TSA funds, saying though the TSA was initiated under the previous Administration, the reason it has begun to enjoy a new lease of life and attract national attention is because of the political will and transparency demonstrated by President Buhari.
Mohammed added: ‘’Those behind the rumour that a single company, Systemspecs, made 25 billion Naira from charging 1 per cent of TSA funds that passed through the company’s software, Remita, may need to return to elementary school to get some lessons in arithmetic.
‘’This is because in order for 1 per cent charge to fetch 25 billion Naira, the funds accruing into the TSA must have reached 2.5 trillion Naira.
Yet, the total amount of funds in the TSA to date is still much less than 2 trillion. “
More importantly, at the time the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ordered that all monies that were erroneously charged as ‘revenue’ be returned to the TSA Account late last month, the TSA had less than 800 billion Naira.
It therefore beggars belief that anyone could attempt to mislead the public by raising a false alarm that a firm made 25 billion Naira in TSA charges.’