The Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has said that he would not attend the meeting called by the Federal Government with state governors on the Treasury Single Account (TSA), saying the State Government was not interested in the TSA policy.

In a press statement issued on Sunday, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the Governor said that the TSA policy was a fraud against Nigeria and its people.

He queried the role and the identity of the owners of REMITA, a company which he alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was using to siphon funds to execute the Kogi and Bayelsa States governorship elections

“From all intent and purposes, this TSA policy is aimed at recouping money spent on the last general elections by the APC, as well as raise money for future elections, especially the Kogi and Bayelsa States gubernatorial poll.

“It is also meant to enrich some individuals for doing virtually nothing and that can be seen from the discovery of N25 billion that already accrued to just a single company in one month.

“How can the Federal Government justify a transaction in which a single company gets one per cent, amounting to N25 billion in one month?

“In this economic situation that Nigeria is, shouldn’t the one per cent commission have been negotiated downward to like 0.1 per cent which would have reduced the N25 billion to N2.5 billion?

“Even manufacturing companies, with thousands of employees don’t make N25 billion profit in one month.

“Therefore, what Nigerians are expecting from the Federal Government is explanation on the alleged N25 billion scam already associated with the operation of the TSA, instead of calling State Governors to a meeting that is aimed at imposing the TSA policy on the States.”

Maintaining that he would not attend the Federal Government’s meeting with state governors on the TSA, Governor Fayose noted the Federal Government cannot force its policies on states that are federating units.

“Ekiti State is entitled to its own policies and it is not under any obligation to accept Federal Government policies, especially the TSA that is already robed in the garment of fraud.

“I therefore wish to state categorically that Ekiti State is not interested in the TSA policy and since the state is not interested, I, as the custodian of the popular mandate of the entire people of the state will not attend any meeting called by the Federal Government on the TSA.”

Meanwhile, Fayose yesterday vowed that no circumstances would make him shift grounds on his plans to hold local government elections in the state on December 19.

The governor made the declaration at a ceremony organised to mark his 55th birthday in Ado-Ekiti.

Fayose said that threats of boycott by any political party would not make him to jettison his plans to conduct the local government polls on that day.

He said that since no provision of the constitution invalidated the credibility of such an election, those calling for its cancellation had no justification for their position.

The governor urged those who were interested in the welfare and development of Ekiti State to join him in his plans to implement policies and programmes that were designed to make the state the envy of others.

Fayose pledged to use the rest of his life to work for the development of Ekiti State in a manner that would provoke other states to take a cue from the state’s development patterns.

•Pieced together from NAN and Channels TV reports. Photo shows Gov. Fayose.

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