PMB Accuses Bauchi Govt of Diverting Attention from ICPC’s Indictment over N8.6b Bailout Fund

Sunday Okobi

The Peoples Movement Bauchi (PMB) has raised the alarm that the renewed attempts by the Bauchi State Government to silence widespread criticisms of its alleged high-handedness, misrule and mismanagement particularly in divert heightening public attention from its indictment by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) over an N8.6billion federal government bail-out fund is the reason behind the fresh plot against former state Governor, Isa Yuguda, and other political opponents in the state.

The pro-good governance group in a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday by its Coordinator, Zakari Ibrahim, accused the state government of deliberately heightening political tension in the state in order to save its face from rising public apprehension over certain ominous setbacks suffered by the current All Progressive Congress (APC)-led government “as the sustained intra-party squabbles, irreconcilable differences with NASS members from the state, hostile local press, unfavorable court rulings and the recent twice-botched visit to the state by President Muhammadu Buhari.”

The advocacy group particularly kicked against last week’s much-publicized report of inquiry submitted to the state government in spite of a subsisting judgment by Justice Gurama M. Mahmood of the Bauchi State High Court of November 1, 2016, which had declared illegal and unconstitutional the setting-up of the state government’s Asset Recovery Committees under Salihu Lukman Abubakar and Air Commodore Gamawa (rtd) and nullifying their reports against Yuguda’s government.

Most shocking, PMB said, was that allegations in the contentious report had earlier been reported by the state government to the Economic Financial and Crimes Commission (EFCC) prompting ongoing investigations by the anti-graft agency. The group accused the state government of an attempt to embarrass the former administration “otherwise it would not have rushed to release such a false report that is still a matter of official inquiry and contempt of court.”

It faulted the allegations by the committees that contracts executed by the former administration between June 2007 and May 2015 were over-inflated, over-paid, poorly executed or not completed without due process to the tune of about N212 billion and to be accounted for by former Commissioners, Special Advisers, Permanent Secretaries, Accountants-General, Internal Auditors and Cashiers.

It maintained that the state government was bent on rubbishing the achievements of the former administration otherwise the committees would have not have gleefully exhibited such ignorance and incompetent interpretation of elementary Public Financial Management principles and reconciliation of government accounts. It further alleged that the committees’ members worsened the situation by their total lack of understanding of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the highly-regulated Capital Market through which the State Bond was raised.

Urging the state government to concentrate its energy on absolving itself of the ICPC’s grave indictment, it noted: “The claims in the report are false, malicious, laughable and bare-faced lies concocted to tarnish the hard-earned image of Yuguda who served the people and the state selflessly with integrity and fear of God. We therefore call on President Buhari and all well-meaning lovers of democracy in the country to urge Governor M. A. Abubakar’s government to immediately halt the ongoing executive rascality aimed at plunging the peaceful state into chaos,” the statement said.