Jonathan starved aggrieved govs of federal allocations, alleges Ahmed

GOVERNOR Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state has alleged that part of the reasons the group of aggrieved former governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) went against President Goodluck Jonathan was because, “the President starved states of adequate Federal Allocations.”

   Addressing over 300 mogajis and alanguas and some commercial cab operators from Ilorin Emirate, Ahmed said that signs of trouble between President Jonathan and the governors started in 2012, barely a year after the President came to power.

   Ahmed alleged that Jonathan merely ordered the release of monthly allocations that could be sufficient only for the payment of workers’ salaries, wondering why the money realised from excess crude oil no longer got to the states.

   He further alleged that the President abandoned all his responsibilities to the state, and that the PDP failed to translate into democratic benefits all its campaign promises.

   According to him, “many people left the PDP because the party could not fulfill its promises to the people, especially at the state level. There was no more synergy among the federal, state and local councils, (thereby) leading to the snail speed socio-economic development of many Nigerians.

   “There is drastic reduction in allocations to the state due to what they call theft of oil. It has greatly hindered socio-economic growth of the people of this state. For instance, we have plans on ground but such plans could not be carried out because our budget had been premised on expectations from the Federal Government.”

   Meanwhile, he commended Prof. Attahiru Jega for piloting the affairs of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), just as he advised that the purported plans to appoint a new INEC chief should be shelved “because it is wrong to change the rule of any game at the middle of it.”