Date Published: 02/18/10

IMPEACHMENT CONTROVERSY DANGLES OVER HONG L.G CHAIRMAN By MURAINI GAMBO 

While the devastating shock of the post-February 6 th 2010, governorship elections in Anambra State is still ravaging the over bloated feathers of the ruling PDP at the national level, the party may again have to contend with a handful of  other intra-party problems rearing the ugly heads in Adamawa State. The latest crisis waiting to explode dangles around an N50m borehole digging machine purchased in the name of the Local Government Council recently. 

The controversy was sparked off last Monday January, 8 th 2010, when the Chairman of the Council Ibrahim Buba Gayus formally commissioned the machine in the presence of a handful of his supporters. The bone of contention is the controversial figure of N50m and N38m separately quoted by the Chairman and members of his council as the approved sum meant for that purpose. While Mr. Gayus was quoted as claiming that the sum of N50m was expended on the machine, a number of Councilors from the area, who pleaded anonymity averred that “only N38m was officially approved by the Council and not N50m as claimed by the Chairman on State Television” In addition, they (Councilors) equally accused the leadership of the Council of malfeasance and high handedness in handling the affairs of the Local Government. 

They explained that, while they collectively agreed to set up a committee for the purchase of the machine, the Chairman arm-twisted them and personally handled the project single handedly. Commenting on the Council’s inability to pay staff salaries as at when due, despite prompt receipt of their monthly salary bill from the Federation Account, the Councilors unanimously blamed the Chairman for not heeding to their advice on the need to consider staff welfare first before anything. 

My findings in Hong on the day of commissioning the borehole digging machine show that, really the Council approved the sum of N38m for the purchase of the machine. Furthermore, I got it on authority that, the said money was diverted from the sum of N100,962,438.91 revenue allocated to the L.G.A by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee for November, 2009 which was shared in December meant for staff salary, out of the state’s total allocation of N1,952,930,720.88 allocated in the period stated above. Also in the cause of this self-imposed duty, it was discovered that, the Chairman used one of his cronies, Zakari Musa Naiwa a former Councilor with the L.G.C to go to far-away Togo in search of that machine. On the order of the Chairman, the crony stumbled on a fairly used one and was asked to drop the sum of N3m out of pocket expense as advance payment, for the machine which will cost the L.G.A N16m. It was agreed that the advance payment made will be reimbursed later by the Chairman. According to sources close to the duo, the N3m paid by Mr. Musa Naiwa may be one of the bad debts he has to contend with. This is because, at the point of that deal in Togo, a similar machine was obtained by the Chairman’s friend earlier send to Nasarawa Local Government of Kano State for the same purpose, who got it at a far cheaper rate.  

Can you guess how much? Only N9m. That is a fantastic deal you would say. This is not an exaggeration, I saw the machine. You won’t be far from the truth, if you describe the machine as a scrap, reconditioned and painted to suit the purpose. This is because, barely one week after its official commissioning, the machine has packed up. Your guess is as good as mine as to how the whole melodrama will play out there on this issue. 

As at the time of filing this piece, there were spurious allegations and counter allegations on the names of people who benefited from the controversial N50m borehole drilling machine scandal. According to dependable sources, it is alleged that the Council Chairman in his bid to seal the dubious deal, dolled out substantial percentage of the money meant to dissuade potential trouble makers over the contract. This he did by sharing undisclosed amount to some PDP officials in the L.G.A prominent among who are Mr. Alahira, Adamu Magaji, one Dazal and a host of others. All efforts to get the views of the Chairman Mr. Ibrahim Gayus on those allegations were not possible, as his mobile line could not go through. 

It could be recalled that last week, Council Chairmen of Mubi North, Guyuk, and Mayobelwa of the state were impeached for various impeachable offences by their Councilors. At the last count, Chief Executives of Girei and Fufore Local Governments were served with impeachment notices. Similarly, there are moves especially from the camp of Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong, the Minister of State Health to plot the removal of Ibrahim Gayus from office for sundry reasons. One of them is the current controversy as stated above. The other factor may not be unconnected with a recent misunderstanding between the Minister and the Chairman’s elder brother, Alh. Ahmadu Gayus, a business man based in Abuja. It is rumored that the latter fail out of favour with the Minister over contract deals among other related issues. 

All these hullabaloo are hinged on greed, selfishness and lack of internal democracy in the ruling PDP. Imposition of candidates in PDP controlled states has been the order of the day since 1999 to date. And to worsen the situation, the National Working Committee of the so called largest party in Africa had chosen to undermine the collective wishes and aspirations of the electorate. Officials at all tiers of the party have taken pleasure in ignoring complaints and petitions from aggrieved party faithfuls. No doubt, their actions and inactions will sooner than later degenerate into factionalization of the party and consequently loose its membership to other political parties. The recent Anambra Governorship race which rendered the PDP an unpopular party is just the beginning of the misfortune waiting to happen in Adamawa come 2012. 
 

Muraini Gambo sent this piece from Malamre Quarters J/Yola.