The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara said it is laughable the ignorant comments made by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the forensic audit report recently received by the state government.
The state APC Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Tajudeen Folaranmi-Aro, said this in a statement in Ilorin.
He described as unfortunate that the PDP could not distinguish between a statutory audit and a forensic audit.
“The fact that the PDP could not distinguish between a statutory audit which the Auditor General carries out, and a forensic audit, on suspicion of any fraud across government agencies, testifies to why the state was in such a big mess under their regime.
“For example, the federal government has repeatedly commissioned forensic and process audits of many of its agencies, including the NNPC, NPA, NIMASA, etc.
”These audits were not necessarily carried out by the Office of Auditor General.
”We aver that the PDP is suffering from crass ignorance in saying that the forensic audit should have been carried out or commissioned by the Auditor General. Which law stated that? None.
”It is a claim built on pitiable ignorance by those who often beat their chest about being well-educated,” the APC spokesperson said.
Folaranmi-Aro said the firm contracted to do the job has past and current engagements with the Federal Government, State Governments, private firms and international agencies.
”Certainly these bodies could not have missed out or overlooked the issues of the firm being up to date in what is required of it as a consultancy firm and a registered business.
”Infact, the Federal Bureau of Public Procurement has issued an IRR to this firm for 2022, meaning that they are fully compliant to carry out work even for the Federal Government.
”We urge the PDP to limit its ignorance to its circles of hangers-on, rather than advertise its incompetence and arrogance to the whole world.
“We find it rather shameful that the PDP could in fact hang its infantile claim on a firm purportedly having an ‘inactive’ status on a website whose currency or accuracy the CAC customers do not have power over.
”Any reasonable person ought to know what a firm’s bonafides with CAC and other statutory body entail.
“Finally, we advise the key characters in PDP to prepare themselves for the grave consequences of their sheer abuse of office, instead of fooling around with laughable claims and diversionary tactics.
”Furthermore, in the interest of the good people of Kwara State, we also advise PDP to address the substance of the report which reveals substantial fraud and misapplication of funds, rather than chase shadows,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Kwara Government on Sept. 1, said the Forensic Audit report revealed that N11.9 billion of public funds were carted away from the state treasury between 2011 and 2019, without any lawful tie to any project or programme.
