Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi
As Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) takes over the leadership of Bauchi State today, the party has lamented that the outgoing All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration is leaving behind a debt of N250 billion as well as other liabilities yet to be verified.
The N250 billion debt profile left behind by the outgone administration of Governor Mohammed Abubakar included debt and loan, PDP said.
The state Governor-elect, Bala Muhammad, who made the disclosure while receiving the report of the Senator Adamu Gumba-led Transition Committee yesterday at the Command Guest House in Bauchi, declared that his administration would probe the outgoing APC administration in order to recover all the money belonging to the state but was misappropriated.
The governor-elect, who could not hide his disappointment over the issue, also lamented that the same administration which promulgated a law to recover misappropriated funds has at its twilight repealed same, declaring that his administration will follow every legal means and due process to recover misappropriated funds and other properties belonging to the state government.
Earlier, while presenting report of the committee, Gumba said his committee discovered that the outgoing Governor of the state, Mohammed Abubakar, left a debt of over N137 billion behind.
According to him, “It is worthy of note that the administration proceeding the outgoing left a liability of about N96 billion for the period of eight years to his successor, which is the outgoing administration. In contrast, the outgoing administration has accumulated a liability of over N137 billion within a period of four years. What an irony!”
He added that “the outgoing administration put in place in public domain, the purchase of 500 units of tractors during one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the state. The governor lied to the president, only five were displayed. The whereabouts of the remaining 495 tractors are unknown, and the committee has recommended an inquiry into the whereabouts of the tractors.”
He further said the Transition Committee visited all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for collection of data and physical interactions pointing out that “I am sad that we did not receive the envisaged support and cooperation of all the MDAs.”
Gumba added that some of the people still thought that the committee was wasting its time because according to them, Governor Abubakar would be sworn in again as Governor on May 29, adding that some of the hoarded information were denied us outright contrary to the genuine purpose of the subcommittee.
“Some of them treated us with disdain and called us names as ‘investigators and witch-hunters’, but the committee ignored all that and obtained data and scrutinised them,” he lamented.
According to him, “The committee noted that SUBEB is one of the agencies that regularly received large inflow of funds. Unfortunately, it is one of the agencies that denied the committee access to relevant information which made the work of the committee inconclusive. We therefore recommend that SUBEB be investigated by a high-powered committee.”
