The Muhammadu Buhari administration has been quiet on the indictment against the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Usani

– The Muhammadu Buhari administration has been quiet on the indictment against the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Usani – Usani Usani was indicted for fraud and abuse of office during his tenure as a commissioner in Cross River state – Usani was the Commissioner for Agriculture, Water Resources, and Rural Development during the last military administration in the state;

For an administration whose main mantra has been the war against corruption, nothing has been said on the indictment against the minister of Niger Delta Affairs. Usani Usani, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, was indicted for financial impropriety for his role when he held office during the military era.

The minister’s case is, however, unique as his indictment has been made official by a government gazette.

According to news on ground, who is in possession of a government white paper which documented Usani’s indictment after he was found guilty of fraud in 2000 by a panel established by the Cross River state government, said the minister appeared in 1999 before a government committee set up to investigate financial impropriety among officials of the preceding military administration in the state.

The committee, officially known as Financial Impropriety/Verification Standing Committee, was inaugurated in 1999 by the then governor, Donald Duke.

According to the document, Usani, because of his alleged intent to defraud the government, was said to have refused to apply government approved scales, when he paid out some money as fees to Gersh Henshaw & Company, a firm of estate surveyors and valuers, which handled the contract for the valuation of vehicles, workshops and equipment belonging to the Cross River State Water Board.

The committee said the state government lost N16.323 million because of Mr. Usani’s “deliberate” action. Duke’s administration, apart from accepting the committee’s report, directed that the N16,323,150 be recovered from Usani, and that he should be prosecuted.

The government, according to the document, accepted to forward particulars of the transaction to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, with a complaint of financial impropriety and abuse of office against Usani.

It can not be verified as at the time of publishing this report, if the state government recovered the money from Usani, and if it also handed over the case to the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

When the presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, was contacted he asked that an email be sent to him. He is yet to respond to the email over two days after it was sent.

The administration has received a lot of criticisms  for its treatment of corruption allegations levelled against the current Chief of Army Staff, (COAS) Tukur Buratai, and the minister of interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau.

Usani was the commissioner for agriculture, water resources, and rural development during the last military administration in the state, which was headed by Col. U. F Ahmed (Rtd).

It was Military Administrator Ahmed who handed over to the elected governor of the state, Donald Duke, at the beginning of the Fourth Republic on May 29, 1999.

naij