All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State has promised to take Governor Douye Diri to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to explain the spending of N3billion that accrued to each of the eight local governments from the withheld 13 per cent derivation funds released to oil-producing states by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The party challenged the governor to explain the spending of over N100billion that accrued to the state from the withheld 13 per cent derivation fund.

The Chairman of APC in Bayelsa State, Dr. Dennis Otiotio, made this known yesterday while speaking with reporters at the Correspondents’ Forum organised by the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Yenagoa.

He alleged that the Diri administration had brought sufferings to the people. According to him, APC was focused on recovering the mandate given to the party during the last governorship election, but was upturned by the Supreme Court.

Otiotio said: “We learnt that about N3 billion accrued to each of the local governments from the money that was withheld from 13 per cent derivation, but we are aware that as we speak, there are no electoral officials manning the local governments, because the government is unable to conduct council elections.

“And since there are no officials at the councils, how did they manage this N3 billion? I hear they are sharing the money to candidates to do projects. We are going to write EFCC to investigate that money; the money was given to local governments.

“They should explain to ‘Bayelsans’ how they spent the money when there are no officials at the local governments.

“Coming to the state, they got over N100 billion from that 13 per cent refunds from the record we have seen. Meanwhile, a month after they got the money, the governor went to the House of Assembly with loan request. Why are they collecting loan when they have over N100 billion from the Federal Government?

“It is unfortunate that even the transparency briefings they have been holding, they have not deemed it necessary to disclose that they have collected over N100 billion from the Federation Account. This is the money that PDP-led Federal Government then withheld, but the APC-led Federal Government released them to the PDP states, but the governors unanimously concealed them, if not for the revelation by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

Governor Diri had said while receiving the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (retd), on a courtesy visit recently, that the 13 per cent oil derivation fund accruing to the state was being prudently spent, mostly on infrastructural development.

The governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, insisted that the administration had nothing to hide and that the state’s monthly allocations from the Federation Account had always been made public through its monthly transparency briefings.

He, however, explained that what the state received as 13 per cent derivation refund from the time of the previous administration was being paid in instalments after it had been discounted. (The Nation)

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