The controversial N10bn refund to Kogi State ahead of Nov. 16 election

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 sent a letter to the Senate, seeking its approval for the payment of N10bn to Kogi State. Buhari, in the letter, addressed to the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan said the money would be used by the state government to settle local debts it incurred as a result of the projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government. Buhari said his request was based on the resolution passed by the eighth Senate.  

He noted that 24 out of 25 state governments had received the approval of the National Assembly for the settlement of claims on projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government since the eighth Senate passed the resolution. He added that N10.069bn was the outstanding amount due to Kogi State Government which is the only state yet to receive a refund. The Senate President referred Buhari’s request to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts for further legislative work.

The big question is why is Kogi State the only state yet to get a refund out of 25 states? Again, why is this request being made by President Buhari barely a month to the crucial November 16, 2019 governorship election in the “Confluence State”?

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with what the president seeks to do. However, many political watchers including the main opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party are of the opinion that the money may be used for vote buying or grossly mismanaged. Speaking through the Deputy Director, Public Communication of his campaign council, Austin Okai, PDP candidate in Kogi State governorship election, Engineer Musa Wada urged the National Assembly not to approve the request. According to him, “During the administration of former Governor Idris Wada, a bailout of N50.8bn was requested about three months to election but this same Buhari refused to release the money to him on grounds of election, so why seeking such approval now that we have few days to election in Kogi? “The roads for which they are seeking N10bn refund were done by the PDP”. If this claim is true, then it is tantamount to double standard by the Federal Government.

Recall that ahead of the 2018 governorship election in Osun State, Buhari made a similar refund to the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola led administration in the “State of the Living Spring”.  Barely a month to the September 22, 2018 governorship election in Osun State, the Federal Government paid the state N16.6bn as part of the Paris Club refund. This enabled the state who has been struggling with payment of salary and pension to now pay four months’ salary some 10 days to the election.

Indeed, what is going on is high wired politics. Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello has been accused of non-performance by the residents of the state. He has been perpetually locked in protracted faceoff with workers in the state for not paying them salaries, allowances and pension as at when due. Ahead of the November 16, 2019 election, he has allegedly received over N30bn Paris Club refund with which he has been able to offset some of the backlog of salaries and pension he owed workers and retirees in the state. Now, if he gets the N10.069bn refund for which the president is seeking approval, it obviously will help to boost his chances of victory in the forthcoming election in Kogi State as he would be in a position to embark on some charitable gestures.

The fear expressed by Musa Wada, the main challenger in the November 16, 2019 governorship election is not totally unfounded. Vote buying is “Any form of financial, material or promissory inducement or reward by a candidate, political party, agent or supporter to influence a voter to cast his or her vote or even abstain from doing so in order to enhance the chances of a particular contestant to win an election.” We do know that two major challenges with Nigerian election are vote buying and electoral violence. It is noteworthy that vote buying or vote trading is not limited to cash alone. Sudden charitable actions ahead of elections is tantamount to vote buying or voter inducement. This phenomenon has been criminalized by Sections 124 and 130 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended.

Ahead of every election, many notable politicians embark of various empowerment programmes such as distribution of motorbikes, power generating sets, hair dryers and barbing salon kits to their constituents. Some will flag off road constructions or repair, construction of boreholes, repairs of dilapidated hospitals, schools, distribution of electricity transformers, etc. It is also not uncommon to approve salary increase, payment of salary arrears and pensions as well as several activities or projects meant to “curry favour” of the electorate. All of the highlighted measures and more are political gimmicks meant to gain political advantage over their rivals in election.

Ahead of the 2019 presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari built up a lot of social capital which he used to good effect during the poll. For instance, some factors that worked in favour of President Buhari include the Social Intervention Programme of his administration. The over N500bn SIP which includes the N-Power graduate employment scheme, where 500,000 youths have been offered two years temporary employment with a modest N30,000 monthly stipend; the Home-Grown school feeding programme, where millions of primary school children are being fed once a day; the Conditional Cash Transfer where thousands  of poor people are being given a token of N5,000 monthly allowance and the ‘Tradermoni’ where artisans and traders are being given  interest-free and uncollaterised  loan of between N10,000 and N50,000  to boost their  trade investment,  all helped in endearing the president to the Nigerian “proletariat”.

The opposition candidates had accused the president of using “Tradermoni” to induce voters ahead of the last general election. This is because, up until the eve of the polls, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was still going around the country to flag off the payment of this token to traders. It was suggested then that, if the intention of the president was not to use the money to induce voters that exercise whould have been suspended at least a month to the election. Moreover, there were news report that in some state potential beneficiaries were being asked for photocopies of their Permanent Voters Card before they are allowed to benefit from the “Tradermoni” scheme.

Also, the increase in the salaries of officers and men of the Nigeria Police and the approval of N30,000 minimum wage for federal workers may have also wooed workers to the side of the President. Recall also that in November 2018, the President approved the reduction in the cost of forms for some terminal examinations like the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, the West African Senior Secondary School Examination, as well as the Basic Education Certificate Examination.

Furthermore, on Wednesday, January 23, 2019, Buhari assented to the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018. This bill has been in the works for 18 years with two former presidents refusing to assent to it when passed by the National Assembly. There is an estimated 27 million Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria who were gladdened by the noble act of the President and as such rewarded him with their votes on Saturday, February 23, 2019.

Recall also that ahead of the September 28, 2016 governorship election in Edo State, former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole on May 1, 2016 announced the increment of the National Minimum Wage from N18,000 to N25, 000 with immediate effect, for employees in the State Public Service. He also promised prompt payment of outstanding arrears of salary to the staff of Local Government Councils in the state. He said that plans had also been concluded to pay staff of Egor Local Government Council who were being owned 13 months’ arrears of salary, within two weeks.

These apart from buying up delegates to pick the party nomination tickets and sharing out of foodstuffs, souvenirs and monies during campaigns are some of the ploys employed by candidates and political parties in order to win elections. Other measures they use include abuse of State Administrative Resources such as the police, anti-corruption agencies, using of civil servants for political campaigns, declaration of unnecessary public holidays, denial of opposition parties and candidates access to public auditoriums and media as well as using of state funds to bankroll their elections.

Thus, as it happened in Osun State ahead of the state’s governorship election last year, Buhari is also hoping that one of the ways to aid his party, All Progressives Congress, to win the forthcoming November 16, 2019 governorship election in Kogi State is to release the N10bn the federal government is owing the state to it so that the governor can have sufficient fund to ‘prosecute the electoral battle’. It remains to be seen if this ‘war-chest’ if and when released to Yahaya Bello will ensure his re-election at the poll next month.