Speaker Dogara accuses Bauchi governor of diverting N400bn
- National Assembly speaker Yakubu Dogara has accused Bauchi governor Mohammed Abubakar of diverting around N400bn in state funds for his own use
- The federal lawmaker alleged that the governor introduced around 1,200 fake workers into the state's payroll shortly after his assumption of office
- The lawmaker, who is a lawyer, presented documents showing irregularities in the payroll of Bauchi state's workforce
- Dogara challenged Governor Abubakar to take him to court to defend the allegations if he had nothing to hide
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has claimed that Bauchi state governor, Mohammed Abubakar diverted state funds of around N400bn for personal use.
Channels TV reported that Dogara made the accusation on Saturday, February 9 through a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan.
The Speaker claimed that Governor Abubakar has been involved in fraud and brazen stealing of state funds since he assumed office in May 2015.
Hassan said Dogara raised the alarm about Governor Abubakar’s alleged theft while addressing his supporters on Friday, February 8 at a campaign rally in Dass local government area of Bauchi.
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According to the report, the federal lawmaker, who claimed he would not make allegations without proof, presented some documents as evidence against the governor.
The documents reportedly showed how thousands of non-existent people were purportedly employed in 2015 shortly after the governor assumed office.
The statement read:“A perusal of one of the documents indicates that no fewer than 1,200 people were said to have been employed and added into the state’s payroll beginning from July 2015.
“However, one of the ghost employees by name, Bappale Adamu, was said to have been born in 1899, which is 120 years ago and started work with the Bauchi State government on July 24, 2015, and will retire from the service in 2023.”
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Dogara claimed that the workers, though have different names and dates of birth, have the same Bank Verification Number (BVN), while the salaries were being paid into one and same bank account under different names. The money, he said, varied from “N39,000 to N86,000 and above”.
But Governor Abubakar, speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Ali Ali, denied the allegations.
The governor described the claims by Dogara as “ridiculous”.
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Legit.ng had reported earlier that Speaker Dogara reportedly formed a coalition with six political parties and stakeholders in Bauchi with the major aim of ensuring that Governor Mohammed Abubakar is not re-elected.
The convener of the coalition, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Kirfi, confirmed the development on Sunday, January 20, while speaking with journalists.
Kirfi reportedly said the action was taken after a review of developments in the state and after consultation relating to the poor performance of the APC government in Bauchi state in the last four years.
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