The Kogi State Government in a swift reaction has described the statement of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that it refunded N19.3 billion stolen Kogi bailout funds to the Central Bank of Nigeria as misleading.
In a statement by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, the commission had said it transferred the said money to the apex bank.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has acknowledged the receipt of the sum of N19, 333,333,333.36 (Nineteen Billion, Three Hundred and Thirty-three Million, Three Hundred and Thirty-three Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty-three Naira, Thirty-six Kobo) recovered the EFCC from the Kogi State Salary Bail-out account domiciled in Sterling Bank Plc. This effectively puts to rest the campaign of misinformation and unconscionable denials by the Kogi State Government that no fund was recovered from its bailout account,” Uwujaren said.
But the Kogi State Government which has consistently denied hiding any money in any bank accused the EFCC of an attempt “to desperately wriggle out of a bad case with another mischief aimed, again, at misleading Nigerians.”
It vowed that it would take legal action to maintain the “innocence and transparency” of the government.
It said the EFCC had finally exposed the fact that it had been pursuing a political agenda all along.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos, the Commissioner for Information and Communications in Kogi State, Kingsley Fanwo, said the Government would prepare a comprehensive response to the moves by the Commission “to save its face in view of its obvious goof and unethical conduct in the matter in dispute.”
“The press statement by the Commission is a malicious attempt to rope the state into a matter that ordinarily has nothing to do with our dear state,” he said.
“We maintain the unassailable truth that the Kogi State Government did not operate such account with the bank as affirmed in a letter by the bank. We sympathize with the EFCC as it has been a herculean task to cover the initial misinformation and deliberate deceit by the Commission.
“Kogites and indeed, Nigerians should rest assured that we will get to the root of this matter,” he added.
