Amosun blames security challenges on Presidency

[MrVan]

By DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA—GOVERNOR  Ibikunle Amosun  of Ogun State yesterday accused the Presidency of  playing  politics  with security in the state by  allegedly refusing to sign the necessary papers for  the importation  of  the 10 Armoured  Personnel Carriers, APCs, meant for the security operatives.

Amosun, while hosting members of Bankers Forum in Ogun State who visited his office yesterday over the incessant robbery attacks on banks, claimed his failure  to  procure the APCs  to assist the police fight criminals was because he was not a member of the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP.

Persuading the bankers not to shut down banks in the state this week as earlier threatened, Amosun blamed the delay in the arrival of the APCS on politics.

Represented by his Commissioner for Finance, Kemi Adeosun, the governor said his government had spent over N2.5 billion on security since inception of his administration, saying the End User Certificate, EUC, which is mandatory before the APCs are delivered, was not signed by the President until two nights ago, so, the state had to cancel the order.

He said: "We now had to go back to the drawing board. I can tell you that as we speak now, the APCs that we have ordered, were brought in by air freight. As I am speaking to you now, five of them are on the tarmac in Lagos. What is our problem? It must have End Users Certificate which is only signed by the President.

"You know we are ACN, they are PDP. I can tell you that the president signed it last Sunday. And it was through the personal intervention of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

"Now the certificate has been signed by the President, with the ministry of finance sending confirmatory text to Governor Amosun this morning.

"We are hopeful that before the end of this week, those five APCs will be brought. I want to assure you that we are working; it is not that we are not doing anything," he said.

Amosun however said that, the kind of APCs procured by the state were unique, saying "When you see them you will see they are a different kind of APC from any other one that any other state has.

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