FG must account for N10bn Ebola fund, Atiku insists

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Atiku Abubakar, has insisted that the Federal Government must give a full account of the N10 billion, earmarked for Ebola Virus Disease emergency response.

Atiku, in a statement by the Director, Strategic Communication, ADC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Phrank Shaibu, said the President Bola Tinubu administration has the duty to explain to the country whether or not the money was released.

The former vice president, who was responding to claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign spokesman, Dele Alake, that the N10 billion Ebola fund was intact, challenged the government to explain who is in control of the money and why it was not utilised, if it was released.

The ADC candidate, earlier in the week, demanded that the government account for the N10 billion Ebola fund, following confirmation of an Ebola case in the country. 

However, Alake, in a statement, on Thursday, stated that the money was intact and accused Atiku of attempting to play politics with a public health issue.

Nonetheless, the former vice president noted that the effects of President Tinubu’s policies are allegedly as dangerous as that of Ebola. He added that while Ebola “destroys lives through disease”, the President’s  “policies have made food and medical care unaffordable’ as well as crumbled businesses that Nigerians spent years building.

According to him, “the APC wants a debate about how two words sound. Atiku Abubakar asked for the money trail and an account of the emergency response. The party in power came back with a pronunciation lesson. What an extraordinary way to tell a frightened country it has no answers.

“On 9 June, the Presidency announced that President Tinubu had ordered the immediate release of ₦10 billion for Ebola emergency preparedness. Now, with a case confirmed in Abuja, the APC says the money remains ‘untouched’. It presents that claim as a defence. It is an indictment of the Bola administration.

“Was the money released or was it not? If it was released, where is it held, who controls it, and why has it not been used for the preparedness President Tinubu announced? If it was never released, why was an order for its immediate release announced in June? Publish the release documents, the account records and the Task Force’s expenditure reports. Insulting Atiku Abubakar will not account for one naira.”