Bauchi to prosecute Yuguda, Abubakar for alleged treasury looting
Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state has stated that his government will immediately commence the prosecution of ex-Governors, Isah Yuguda, Mohammed Abubakar and all officials that have been indicted by the funds and assets recovery committee set up by his administration.
The governor stated this at the Government House when he received the committee’s report on Tuesday in Bauchi.
‘I will direct our legal department to immediately prosecute those people found to have illegally acquired our assets. As for the rest, the statutory bodies responsible for managing financial mismanagement, the EFCC and ICPC will immediately be contacted while the government will set up a forensic audit team, and implementation team so that this document will constitute a working document.”
The governor while commending the committee for discharging its responsibility diligently, assured that the document would be utilized for the benefit of the people of the state.
“We thank you most sincerely for some of the issues you have raised and the discoveries you have made, especially issues of movables and immovable assets that some people have taken illegally, ranging from huge amounts that have been discovered which can be used as evidence against them,” he added.
The governor noted that some of the physical developments were also suspicious, especially given the amounts that were gotten from the federation account, budget support and the Paris Club refund.
Gov. Bala, who promised to subject the report to forensic scrutiny, said that the loan that was collected by his predecessors amounting to N8 billion will not go unchecked.
“A lot had happened; N1.2 billion consultancy which we are aware that EFCC has collected that money and over N1 billion paid to individuals amongst others,” he stated.
He expressed dismay that out of 500 tractors that were supposed to be supplied to the state government worth N2 billion, only 40 were supplied.
Daily Times recalls that the funds and assets recovery committee was inaugurated on July 12, 2019 with a mandate to probe the administrations of former Governors Isah Yuguda and Mohammed Abdullahi.
Submitting the report to the governor, the Chairman of the Funds and Assets Recovery Committee, Brig. Gen. Markus Yake (rtd) said a total of over N1trillion was discovered to have been illegally looted and mismanaged by the two previous administrations in the state.
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He said funds diverted were mostly from the Paris Club refund, ecological fund, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds, internally generated incomes, as well as loans taken by past governments, among others.
The chairman also revealed that the committee discovered 16 plots of land in Kaduna worth N1.5 billion allegedly diverted by the past administration.
The report also recommended that a government property adjacent to Wikki Hotel, Bauchi which the former governor’s predecessor sold to himself without following due process should be recovered for the benefit of Bauchi state.
It would be recalled that the committee had in October 2019 at a press briefing accused ex-Governor Mohammed Abubakar of illegally selling to himself exotic cars and a house, a claim which his loyalists refuted.
