Chairman of Governors Forum and Governor of Zamfara State, Mr. Abdulaziz
\nYari allegedly collected over N400million from the state coffers without
\nappropriation by the State House of Assembly to entertain President
\nMohammadu Buhari\u2019s visit to the state in July, 2016, a state official told
\nPointblanknews.com<\/p>\n
This is even as Pointblanknews.com is still investigating documents in our
\npossession detailing Governor Yari\u2019s businesses in properties,
\ntransportation and haulage domiciled in Washington DC.<\/p>\n
Buhari was in Zamfara state in July 13, 2016 for a one-day visit during
\nwhich he launched a special Military Task Force to fight \u201cbandits\u201d.<\/p>\n
Zamfara Government sources told Pointblanknews.com that soon as
\ninformation got to the Governor of the President\u2019s visit, the Permanent
\nSecretary, Government House, Mr. Sa\u2019aad Farouk was directed to release the
\nsum of N400million for the one-day visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease I don\u2019t know anything about that, Please, I don\u2019t know anything
\nabout it\u201d, Farouk told Pointblanknews.com over the phone.<\/p>\n
Gov. Yari neither picked calls to his MTN cell phone nor replied to email
\nsent to him on the allegations.<\/p>\n
But sources within Zamfara Government House confirmed that the Governor, a
\nvery close ally of President Buhari, has been in the habit of collecting
\nmillions from the state coffers on a weekly basis for personal usage,
\nprompting anger among Government officials who leaked his behavior to the
\nState Assembly.<\/p>\n
The source told Pointblanknews.com that Governor Yari had informed them
\nthat the funds is needed to take care of Security personnel made of the
\nArmy, Navy, Airfoce, Civil Defence, Police, DSS and others who would be
\nensuring a safe visit of the President to the State.<\/p>\n
\u201cAround July 11 or 12, 2016 the Governor requested for that money and it
\nwas released. That is not the only money he has been collecting. If he is
\ninvestigated today, the whole world would be in shock to see how the
\nresources of the state has been squandered,\u201d the source told
\nPointblanknews.com<\/p>\n
An officer in the Army Public Relations told Pointblanknews.com that the
\nArmy is not aware of any fund from Zamfara State and did not receive any
\nmoney from the State Government during the President\u2019s July trip to the
\nstate.<\/p>\n
Efforts to reach the Zamfara State Police Commissioner, Mr. Istefanus
\nShattima to confirm receipt of any money from the State Government during
\nthe President\u2019s visit in July were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
The State Assembly, led by Speaker Sanusi Rikiji had accused the Governor
\nof squandering state resources. Specifically, the Zamafara House said the
\nGovernor has not been able to account for N1 billion commercial
\nagriculture loan given to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.<\/p>\n
The House through its Spokesman, Mannir Gidan accused him of
\n\u201cnon-remittance of pension funds to pension administrators, non-remittance
\nof 5 percent emirate council funds, the gross misappropriation of bailout
\nfunds to the state by the federal government to settle workers\u2019 salaries,
\nincluding N10b for 2014 and N1.46b in 2016\u201d.<\/p>\n
Another lawmaker, Umaru Faru had told the VOA that everyone knows the
\nprecarious situation that the state has found itself, saying \u201cpeople
\naccuse the governor of abandoning the state, and they are also complaining
\nabout the handling of the state resources especially the bailout funds
\nreleased specifically to pay workers\u2019 salaries\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money came but no one knows what happened to it, as we speak local
\ngovernment staff, pensioners have not been paid, in fact, our traditional
\nrulers have not been paid their 5% constitutional allocation for several
\nmonths, civil servants pay was cut and some of them were even sacked
\nbecause of dwindling revenue, however, they were not paid their
\nentitlement even after the bailout came.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we invited them, definitely not for impeachment purposes,\u201d he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Sources told Pointblanknews.com that while the Lawmakers and Zamfara
\ncitizens worry about their dwindling economic fortunes, the Governor moves
\nstate funds to his businesses in Washington DC through cronies where he
\nalso attends Graduate school.<\/p>\n
The source hinted that every ten days, the Governor comes to the U.S to
\ntake care of his academics and attend to his businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Assembly complained the Governor is an absentee Governor. That is
\nvery correct. I can tell you that while he runs his businesses in the U.S
\nwith Zamfara State funds, he also runs a Master Degree program there and
\nthat is why he hardly stays to do his job as Governor,\u201d said the source
\nwho does not want to be named.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chairman of Governors Forum and Governor of Zamfara State, Mr. Abdulaziz Yari allegedly collected over N400million from the state coffers without appropriation by the State House of Assembly to entertain…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n