Dogara alleges Bauchi gov diverted N400bn

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has
alleged that Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abubakar has diverted
N400bn from the state coffers since he assumed power in May
2015.

A statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs
to Speaker, Turaki Hassan, on Saturday said Dogara made the
allegation at a Peoples Democratic Party campaign rally in Dass,
Dass Local Government Area of the state on Friday.

He said the speaker, who officially announced his defection from
the ruling All Progressives Congress to the PDP recently, presented
documented evidence to people who thronged the venue for the rally
showing them how thousands of nonexistent people were said to have
been employed shortly after Abubakar came into office.

Hassan said, “The Speaker challenged Abubakar to take him to
court and promised that he would defend the allegations and added
that as a lawyer he knew the law and would not level false
allegations against anyone without having evidence.

“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.”

He added, “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 state government on July 24, 2015 and
will retire from the service in 2023.”

The statement also claimed the 1,200 workers, although having
different names and dates of birth, had the same Bank Verification
Number, meaning that their salaries were being paid into the same
bank account.

Dogara alleged that the salaries varied from N39,000 to
N86,000.

The statement added, “The speaker also wondered how Bauchi
State’s monthly salary skyrocketed from N2.6bn per month in May
2015 to N7bn without recruiting additional workers, especially as
the governor early in his administration, fired the political
appointees nade by his predecessor Isa Yuguda, which should have
reduced the state’s wage bill drastically.”

However, the Press Secretary to the governor, Abubabakar
Al-Sadique, dismissed the allegations in a telephone interview with
one of our correspondents.

He said Dogara “is suffering from election fever and should
concentrate on convincing his constituents to vote for him.”

He added, “Dogara’s allegations that the governor has diverted
N400bn is laughable. Dogara is suffering from election fever. When
you allege that somebody has diverted N400bn in about 43 months,
invariably, you are saying that the individual has diverted about
N9bn each month. Where did N9bn come into the Bauchi State
Government’s coffers?”

According to him, the average amount of money the state gets
monthly is N4bn or N5bn.