Governors steal LG funds - Reps

THE House of Representatives on Monday lambasted the Governor of Kano state, Mallam Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, over his criticism of the ongoing constitutional review process by the National Assembly, where issues on local government autonomy, independence of state legislatures among others are on the front burner.

The lawmakers equally tagged governors in the country as thieves saying they misappropriate local government funds. The House equally attacked the governors over their open hatred for local government autonomy and independence of the state legislatures.

The spokesperson for the House, Honourable Zakari Mohammed, in a statement issued in Abuja, condemned the Kano State governor for ridiculing the National Assembly over his comment on the constitution review exercise.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a recent media interview, where the governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, gave a lot of misleading conceptions about the 7th House of Representatives’ stand on local government autonomy,independence of the state legislatures and constituency projects, among so many other issues.

“The issue of local government autonomy as far as Nigeria is concerned is long overdue. Arising from our Peoples’ Public Session as true representatives of the people, our constituents do not agree with the current status where local government funds are being  pilfered by governors including Governor Kwankwaso at the expense of the people and chairmen who are seen as mere boys for  the job. I challenge the Kano State governor to tell people of his state and Nigerians how these funds are managed in Kano since he came to office.

“We would certainly not accept a situation where governors  turned themselves to demi-gods in the name of joint account. It is only in Nigeria  that an elected governor of a state would speak to the media, frontally eroding democratic ideals of which he is a beneficiary. It saddening to note that LGs elections have not been held in some states since 1999, wondering what sort of government states are running.

“Furthermore, at no time did the National Assembly instigate the 36 states assemblies against governors, rather the House of Representatives never hides its resolve for true federalism where the federal, state and local governments would function as federating units for the benefits of the Nigerian people, Mr Kwankwaso should realise that the current unitary federalism that is being propagated by him and his colleagues is responsible for the high number of anti-graft cases against governors on corruption. Why is he afraid of the legislatures being independent in the states? The recent outburst is seriously calling to question the integrity of a lot of men who masquerade themselves as state chief executives, a lot of state assemblies are an extension of the state executive council, where speakers and the House leadership permanently go cap in hand to the governors for their needs. If the state legislature is independent as it is being proposed it would give our teaming electorates a voice, not the situation that keeps the governors as emperors of their various enclaves.

“Just recently, a governor’s wife who has no constitutional powers, via a memo from her office, sacked an elected councilor, although this has since been reversed, it shows how Mr Kwankwaso and his cohorts play with our collective commonwealth. Similarly the issue of  constituency projects are enshrined in the budget, whose location is just being suggested by honorable members, the projects execution, funding and all other biding processes is done by the various MDAs, we don’t handle contracts,nor cash, but in the said interview the Kano state governor erroneously referred to the projects as drain pipes. This monies being spent to improve the lives of our teaming populace is not up to the ones he and his co-travelers squander in the name of security votes,or where do governors get funds to massage their flamboyant life styles of flying private jets for themselves and their family members.

“As a former NASS (National Assembly) member, minister and governor, Kwankwaso should realise that a man who lives in glass house should not throw stones. My candid advise to Mr Kwankwaso who might be overwhelmed by the busy doing nothing syndrome is to realise that Nigerians are not as ignorant as he thinks, I invite him to a popularity stroll with my speaker HonourableAminu Waziri Tambuwal and he would see who nigerian people will applaud including the streets of kano where every state official is forced to wear a red cap as a sign of loyalty to his narrow minded and visionless kwankwassiya doctrine.

“We would continue to be focused in the 7th assembly to propagate our legislative agenda geared towards improving the lives of our people who are our employers,” the statement concluded.