Lagos -- More reactions have trailed the Ekiti Governor,
Ayodele Fayose's letter to the Chinese Government,
asking it to refuse President Muhammadu Buhari's
request of $2.2 billion loan.
Chairmen of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in
Lagos State and other lawyers on Sunday
condemned Fayose's action, describing it as mere
irritation and inconsequential.
President Buhari had
last week paid a state
visit to the People's
Republic of China with
some of the state governors,
the Central Bank
governor and some
ministers.
The president had
concluded
negotiations for the
loan and a currency
swap deal with the
Chinese authorities as
part of efforts to
revive the Nigerian
economy in the face
of dwindling oil
revenues.
On April 12, Fayose had reportedly jetted out to
China while Buhari was there, urging the Chinese
authorities to refuse the facility being requested by
the Nigerian Government.
He said ``all Nigerians", irrespective of their
political and religious affiliations were against any
applications for new foreign loans."
This, he said, was on the grounds that servicing
current debt burden already gulps over 25 per cent
of the country’s annual budget.
Reacting to Fayose's letter, a former Chairman of
Ikeja Branch of NBA, Mr Onyekachi Ubani,
described the letter as of no consequence, since
negotiations had already been concluded.
"The letter by Fayose is similar to a situation of
bringing a motion for a court injunction for a
completed act.
"This letter is a mere irritation especially coming
from a sitting governor; I will urge Nigerians and
especially journalists to regard his letter as nothing,
but a mere irritation.
"Negotiations are already concluded and the
Chinese government are willing to release funds to
Nigeria.
"Although, it is very disheartening that such a letter
is coming from one of our governors, but I think it
serves no purpose," he told NAN.
Ubani, therefore, urged Nigerians to resist any act
capable of disrupting the smooth running of
government.
In the same vein, the Ikeja Branch Chairman of
NBA, Mr Yinka Farobi, described the letter as "over
stepping of one's boundaries".
"Fayose was elected as a state governor and not as
the president of Nigeria.
"His letter is clearly out of the purview of his
powers and I seriously condemn it," he said.
Farobi also urged Nigerians to be supportive of
moves aimed at transforming the Nigerian nation
for growth.
Again, the Ikorodu NBA Branch Chairman, Mr
Dotun Adetunji, described the letter as a show of
rascality.
He noted that although ``there is a provision for
immunity for a sitting governor, there must also be
a limit on the activities of a leader."
In his words: "There are 36 states in the federation
and out of these states, only one governor has
courage to write to a foreign authority, urging it to
refuse funds to its federal government.
"To my mind, such action is really reprehensible
and should be discouraged.
"There is no problem with being an opposition, but
If you want to be an opposition, you conduct such
opposition in a reasonable manner," he said.
Adetunji urged Nigerians to show support for the
incumbent government in a bid to promote
development.
"We must be careful as Nigerians for whatever we
do today will be recorded as our history
tomorrow."
Mr Spurgeon Ataene, a lawyer, said:``If the loan
being sought by the Federal Government is for the
purpose of revamping the battered economy, then
we should not have a problem with that.
``The only thing we should demand from the
government is that the loan should be used for the
purpose for which it is obtained in the first place.
``To that extent, all Nigerians must be watchdogs
and at all times demand that the benefit of the 2
billion dollar loan must trickle down to the masses.
Another lawyer, Mr Ola Ogunbiyi, said Fayose's
action fell short of the status of his exalted office.
"Fayose is a `security risk' working against national
interest, I think he has too much freedom and
should be cautioned all because we are in a
democratic rule.
"What he said was wrong, we all know the loan is
for our economic growth, for him to have written a
letter to another country is wrong.
"The picture he tried to paint is that there is no
unity, we have no united front by going to counter
the action of the president.
"We all know the President is trying to pave way for
the citizenry to have a good business relationship
with other countries, but we can see Fayose
blackmailing not only the government but the
nation as a whole." (NAN)
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