$2.1bn: Oshiomhole, Okonjo-Iweala impasse goes viral

The verbal clash between Adams Oshiomhole, Edo State governor, and Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala, immediate past finance minister, over the management of Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account sparked odium penultimate week among their followers on social media as they hurled insults on their principals’ perceived foes.

The Edo State governor had after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, last Monday said about $2.1billion had been withdrawn from the $4.1 billion without authorisation.

He said he had confronted the former minister on several occasions to demand that reports on matters of Federation Account should not be presented to members verbally, but in written form, for reasons of accountability.

The former minister had also in a quick response lashed out at the governors through Paul Nwabuikwu, her spokesperson, who described the allegations as “false, malicious and totally without foundation.”

But Oshiomhole, who was a guest on TV programme two days after, accused the former minister of not only toying with figures about the country’s finances, but also being economical with the truth on the state of the economy.

Grace Uko, a fan of Oshiomhole, said as far as she was concerned no one who had ever passed through governance in Nigeria in whatever capacity was clean and that it was just the level of looting that differs.

“But how can the former minister of finance wash herself clean when she was part of a regime that destroyed the economy of Nigeria? That Nigeria is in debts today is no longer news globally. The economy has been messed up. Thank God you can milk the resources of a nation and go scot free in a human court but God’s judgment will definitely manifest on such individuals and their generations,” she said.

Omobolade Olutade, Okonko-Iweala’s fan, was quick to defend her. “We have to agree on something first before passing the blame. The first question is: is the economy in bad shape now? If it is in bad shape then we should ask: was it mismanaged? And if the answer is in the affirmative, then who were those who mismanaged or who could be said to be responsible for the mismanagement? By the same token, the governors were to blame for the mismanagement of the economy at the national level because they use ‘juju’ to influence the coordinating minister for economy,” he said.

Temetope Adeleye said: “Oh yes, she did well by cleverly stealing money from Nigeria and awarding FG’s contracts to her friends and family. She did well by surrounding herself with her clans in running the country’s economy. Is that the rule of public accounting?”she asked.

But David Omonle responded thus: “What do you know about figure. What do you know about check and balances? It’s important for you to write on what you know about. Ngozi should go and hold governors who could not use the allocation of their state wisely. He should be going to ministries to hold ministers who squandered their ministerial fund for personal use. Imagine your comments that Jonathan went to beg Sanusi for royal blessing. My friend, stop making silly comments. You know nothing so shut up your mouth,” he fumed.

As the debate entered its new week, it is yet to be ascertained whether the verbal clash would take a new twist with some Nigerians already calling on the anti-graft agency in the county to investigate the allegations to unravel the true position of things.

NATHANIEL AKHIGBE