Paris Club Refund: You lied, consultants tell govs

The consultants working on the London and Paris Club refunds yesterday accused the current Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, of telling a litany of lies over the payment of their entitlements.

Last Wednesday, the NGF described the positions of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on the controversial ‘$418 million Paris Club contractors’ fee as “fraudulent and self-serving.”

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The NGF Chairman and governor of Ekiti State, in a communique issued at the end of its meeting, held at the Conference Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the governors had resolved to pursue the issue before the law court, to a logical conclusion so as to know the next steps to take on the matter.

Malami had on Thursday August 11 said the state governors had no justification to protest against deductions from the Paris Club refund paid to the consultants they hired as they created the liability whose payment they had also indemnified.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on behalf of the Lead Consultants, Ned Nwoko said that when he submitted a bill of $350 million as the consultancy fee, the state governors demanded to be paid 50 percent of it before it could be honoured.

He said the NGF demanded and received the sum of $100 million to prosecute elections in some states.

Nwoko said a former chairman of the forum had explained to him that the money was needed to prosecute elections in Bauchi, Ekiti and Ondo states.

He said the Ministry of Justice intervened and the governors eventually received the sum of $100 million.

He said the money being owed the consultants was $68 million and not $418 million that has been in public space.

According to him, the consultants have nothing to do with $418 million, which he said must be a miscalculation.

He absolved the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, of any wrongdoing as he said the minister was only trying to ensure that the law was obeyed.

Nwoko stated that the agreements and judgment being executed were reached before the advent of the present administration.