By Musa Adamu
Abuja
The immediate past Minister/Deputy Chairman, National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman, has described as a blatant lie the report credited to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung that the Ahmed Jodan-led transition committee rejected the N20 million made available to it by the then President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, Sulaiman said the committee collected the said amount and also given the right support to by the then outgoing government to ensure a smooth transition.
He said: “The statement credited to the Hon Minister of Youths and Sport at the National Democratic Institute that the N20 million Jonathan administration gave the Buhari transition committee was turned down was a blatant lie and deliberate attempt to continuously blackmail Jonathan government.
“It is sad and an act of treachery for the Hon Minister to claim that N20 million which was the same amount given to the then government transition was inadequate. Not only did they collect the said amount, but the then government put every mechanism in place to ensure smooth transition.
“It is high time government functionaries stopped trade in lies and put things in proper perspective. As far as political transition is concerned, no government before the last has done better than Jonathan administration. This is the time for our new ministers to settle down and face proper governance than continuing in propaganda. Anything short of that would reduce ministers to mere noisemakers.”