Accountant general of the federation Ahmed Idris said on Tuesday that the £4.2 million recovered from the former governor of Delta State James Ibori has been paid to the Delta State Government.
The fund, which the Federal Government recently received from the United Kingdom, is part of the proceeds of crime seized from the ex-governor.
During an appearance before the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee investigating the status of recovered loot, Mr Idris stated that “all recovered funds that belong to the respective states are paid directly to the states”.
“Some recoveries are for state governments, I know there was a time recovery were made on behalf of Plateau State, there was one for Bayelsa, even Delta, such recoveries go to those states,” he said.
When quizzed further by the committee’s chairman Adejoro Adeogun (APC, Ogun) if the Ibori loot was paid to Delta State, Idris said, “It was paid to the state, it was paid to Delta State. Any recovery that is arising from any state, goes to that state. State governors will not even allow it to fly, they will take the Federal Government to court. We pay them their money.”
His answer, however, contradicts the earlier position of the Federal Government as the attorney general of the federation Abubakar Malami had said the money would be used by the Federal Government to fund three ongoing projects; namely, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kano road and Second Niger Bridge.
He had alo said the agreement to return the money to Nigeria was done under the auspices of the U.K.-Nigeria Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
