Human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN), has called on former minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to apologise for lying to Nigerians over the illegal withdrawal of the sum of $2 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA).
According to Falana, having admitted that the withdrawal of the sum of $2 billion by her was authorised by President Goodluck Jonathan and not by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) as she had previously claimed, she ought to apologise to Nigerians.
The Lagos lawyer, who made this demand in a press statement he issued in Lagos yesterday, also said that the former minister should stop denying her “principal role in the gross mismanagement of the neo-colonial economy of the country and take responsibility for her actions instead of resorting to shifting blame”.
He noted that the Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, recently alleged that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala unilaterally approved the withdrawal of the sum of $2billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) “without authorisation, and that in her reaction, the former minister had claimed that it was “false, malicious and totally without foundation”, asserting that the withdrawal of the fund was “approved” by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).
Falana, however, stated that following the categorical denial of her claim by the FAAC, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recanted and shifted the blame on former President Goodluck Jonathan for the controversial withdrawal of $2billion from the excess crude revenue account (ECA) in December 2014.
“In denying the mismanagement of the economy, the former coordinating minister of the economy stated that the payments made were used for paying for petroleum subsidies for the Nigerian people and were approved by Mr. President.”
“Assuming without conceding that the release of the whopping sum of $2billion was approved by the President, is Mrs Okonjo-Iweala saying that funds belonging to the three tiers of government could be unilaterally withdrawn from the ECA by the federal government?
