Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

BAUCHI: Allegations Trail Yuguda Era

SEEMINGLY keeping faith with the tradition, the Mallam Isa Yuguda-led administration may not have been left behind in the pilfering of state properties as it departed the Government House in Bauchi.
Isa-Yuguda-19022015

Yuguda

SEEMINGLY keeping faith with the tradition, the Mallam Isa Yuguda-led administration may not have been left behind in the pilfering of state properties as it departed the Government House in Bauchi.

The Bauchi State Transition Committee, which concluded its work during the week, alleged discoveries of what it called stench of financial mismanagement prevalent within the Yuguda administration.

In a statement by the secretary of the committee, Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde, clear anomalies in the handover notes may have been unearthed.

The statement read in part: “In the course of its assignment, the Transition Committee has discovered a number of anomalies in the governance of Bauchi State during the previous administration.”

“While all its recommendations to the new government are contained in the report it is submitting next week (this week), it found it pertinent to quickly advise Governor Mohammed Abubakar on some urgent matters that cannot be delayed without putting public assets in peril.”

It observed that the Yuguda administration committed near financial crimes in the manner it handled five critical line items, including last minute land allocations at the premises of new Specialist Hospital (former BACAS) and the Bauchi State Agricultural Development Programme (BSADP); Carting away and boarding of official vehicles by political appointees that violate standing regulations; misappropriation of new generators bought for Local Governments; as well as leakages in the state’s payroll.

Formation of a Taskforce on recovery of government assets has since been put in place to address these allegations. Abubakar, in approving the recommendations to probe and retrieve all stolen properties and missing monies, ordered for immediate revocation and reversion of lands recently allocated at both the new Specialist Hospital and BSADP.

Also ordering the revocation of boarding of all vehicles that is not in conformity with standing regulations and the immediate recovery of same, as well as, those carted away by political appointees and unofficial persons associated with the last administration, he in the same light sought immediate recovery of all generators released to parties other than the Local Governments for which the purchase was initially made.

Arrangements for blocking the leakages in the payroll, according to the governor, is to commence immediately with a competent team that will handle it before the end of the month when the next payroll will be generated.

Mohammad-AbubakarHe has also established a Taskforce for recovery of government assets, including property, vehicles, plants and machinery, monies, and so on.

All the security vehicles in the convoy of former governor Yuguda have already been recalled. The vehicles in the possession of his wives (allegedly numbering seven for each of the four wives) have been ordered to be returned.

The vehicles are reported to number 30 and comprising largely of sport utility vehicles. In addition, the former governor is said to have granted special, but supposedly illegal waivers to 100 associates, which were given government vehicles.

The special waiver cut away 70 percent of the cost of the vehicles, leaving the recipients to pay 30 percent of the value of the cars.

While Abubakar is believed to have commenced steps aimed at retrieving the vehicles, he is also insisting on reversing the bazaar of land allocations his predecessor made.

Already, workers from the ministry in charge of land allocation in the state have begun delineating lands that would be retrieved from associates of Yuguda.

0 Comments