Vote Buying: APC Chieftain Urges FG to Withhold Bayelsa’s N7bn VAT Refund
APC acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabene
Adedayo Akinwale ín Abuja
Ahead of the November 16 governorship election, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged the federal government not to release N7 billion Value Added Tax (VAT) refund for Bayelsa State Government for now to avoid using the money to buy vote.
APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, in a statement yesterday, urged the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, to delay the approval of the money until after the election.
He said he believed that if the money should be released to the outgoing government in the state, it would not serve the purpose it meant to achieve.
According to him, “There is a N7 billion VAT refund to Bayelsa State awaiting the Minister of Finance approval. The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has committed to a commercial bank to give him the N7 billion with an agreement that the ministry will in turn pay the money to them.
“Governor Dickson must be stopped from achieving his selfish and desperate plan to buy votes using state funds and rig the election in favour of his unpopular candidate.
“The minister is advised not to approve the VAT refund until after the governorship election. Governor Dickson has recently been in the news on account of several schemes to raise money through diversion of state funds to fund the election of his stooge and Bayelsa Stat governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” he alleged.
EFCC Arrest’s 10 Internet Fraud Suspects in Ilorin
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ilorin Zonal Office, have arrested 10 persons over their alleged offences bordering on internet fraud and other fraud related offences.
The suspects were arrested on Monday in Basin Area of Ilorin following intelligence reports over their involvement on internet fraud and other fraud related offences.
The suspects are: Paul Chibuzor, David Daniels, Tolu Ogundowole, Tosin Ogundowole, Agwu Goodness, Olayiwola Azeez, Olamide Ijisesan, Chilaka Dickson, Abdullahi Abubakar and Temitope Bambo.
Two of the Suspects, Tolu and Tosin Ogundowole are brothers of the same parents.
Items recovered from the suspects included charms, mobile phones, laptops, fake currencies, among others.
The suspects would soon be charged to court, said EFCC.
