By Bayo Davids<\/p>\n
A civil society organization, Kogi Conscience has written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accusing embattled former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello of misappropriating over N300bn allocated to the 21 Local Government Areas of the State during his stint as two-time governor.
\nIn a petition to the commission dated April 8, 2024 exclusively obtained by our correspondent, the group whose mandate is \u201cthe promotion and protection of the socio-political and economic wellbeing of citizens of Kogi state and holding government and institutions responsible and accountable to the people,\u201d alleged several financial infractions perpetrated by the former governor.
\nRecall that the ex-governor was declared wanted by the EFCC for alleged money laundering to the tune of over N80bn state fund after the commission\u2019s bold mo\/ve to arrest him was foiled by incumbent Kogi State Governor, Mr Usman Ododo.
\nThe petition co-signed by the duo of Peter Onuma and Okpanachi Jacob, National President and General Secretary respectively, the group wrote, \u201cWe wish to inform you Mr. Chairman sir that while the administration of Mr Yahaya Bello held sway in Kogi state as the Executive Governor from the 27th January, 2016 to 26th January, 2024, the above-mentioned persons\u00a0 (names attached) were elected as Chairmen of the 21 Local Government Areas of the State. While Engr Abubakar Ohere and Barr Abdulsalam Momoh Jimoh Ozigi were appointed at different times as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo was the Auditor General for Local Government.<\/p>\n
\u201cSir, we wish to further inform you that between the period of May 2016 to January 2024, the 21 Local Government Areas of Kogi state were allocated a total sum of Three Hundred Billion, Sixty-Nine Million, Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand, Seven Hundred and Three Naira, Fifty-Eight Kobo (N300, 069, 350, 703. 58) only. These sums were administered jointly by the Local Government Chairmen and the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs through a joint account which was supposedly superintended by the Auditor General for Local Government.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay we state that the basis of our complaint is that the period under review (May 2016 to January 2024, witnessed unprecedented maladministration, deprivation and under-development of our Local Government Areas and people as civil servants, staff of the Local Government Areas were for most of the months not paid their salaries or paid percentage salaries ranging between five per cent to thirty per cent of their monthly salaries thereby evolving a period of unprecedented suffering and hardship to our people with records of several deaths and stories of hunger, starvation and withdrawal of wards from institutions of learning.\u201d
\nThe group further alleged that under the watch of Yahaya Bello \u201cOur Local Government Areas witnessed zero development as there were practically no projects of whatever nature embarked upon or completed by the Council Chairmen, stressing that \u201cInsecurity, crimes and criminality which are the natural consequences of leadership induced hardship became the order of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The petition further read: \u201cIt is our position for ourselves and on behalf of the good and peace-loving people of Kogi state that the sums so appropriated from the Federation Account through the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission as shown in the graph attached hereto to this letter were grossly misappropriated, criminally converted to their estate thereby breaching the trust of the Kogi people.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay we further add that the foregoing sums as allocated is less the internally generated revenue of each of the 21 Local Government Areas for the period under review which we readily don’t have the record owing to the clandestine modus operandi of the managers of the system.
\n\u201cWe call on your very exalted office as the conscience of the Nigerian naid nation to rise in defence of your mandate and cause an investigation to be conducted into the management of the resources of the 21 Local Government Areas of Kogi State for the said period of May 2016 to January 2024 to determine the transparency or otherwise of same and to bring all persons found wanting in this regard to book.
\n\u201cWe count on you to deliver on this mandate of your agency to restore our people’s hope in the capacity of the Nigerian Nation to serve justice in deserving circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Bayo Davids A civil society organization, Kogi Conscience has written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accusing embattled former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello of misappropriating…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n