FG denies allegations against Buhari, insists president not diverting money for 2019 election campaign

macfranc007 June 22, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 Kess Ewubare

- The minister of budget and national planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, says the federal government does not have security vote allocated to its offices

- He insists that provisions for security-related matters are not contained in the budgets of the state house

- DSS arrests 2 suspected ISIS commanders in Abuja

The federal government has dismissed allegations by the Transparency International which claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari was setting aside funds for his 2019 election campaign through his security vote .

The Tribune reports that the minister of budget and national planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, in Abuja on Thursday, June 21, insisted that neither the president nor other officials of the federal government has security vote allocated to their offices.

He noted that there was no truth in the report that the presidency had increased the number of security votes tucked into the federal budget in the last two years.

Udoma said provisions for security-related matters are contained in the detailed budgets of the ministry of defence, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Department of State Security (DSS) and not in the state house budget.

The minister stated that there are also provisions for counter-insurgency military operations in the northeast, as well as other specific operations of the armed forces such as operation python dance, operation crocodile smile and very recently, the operation cat race.

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He said a provision of N75 billion was made for these security exercises in the service-wide votes owing to the growing number of internal security issues.

Meanwhile, the Department of State Services (DSS) said it had arrested two Islamic State in West Africa commanders in Kukuntu village, Gwgwalada, Abuja.

NAIJ.com gathered an operative of the service, Tony Opuiyo, in a statement issued on Thursday, June 21, in Abuja, said the suspects were arrested on May 5, after special operations on identified targets.

He said that in a related operation on April 28, the service also arrested one Umar Dogo, a suspected member of ISWA at Muda Lawal market in Bauchi.

Opuiyo said the suspects were discovered to have concluded plans to perpetuate the ideals of the group in the area, and in collaboration with Boko Haram, carry out heinous violent attacks on innocent persons.

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