Bauchi petitions EFCC, accuses Yuguda of N6bn fraud

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The Bauchi State Government has written a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission accusing the immediate past governor of the state, Mallam Isa Yuguda, of fraud and financial recklessness.

The state government, in the petition dated November 27, 2015, accused Yuguda of spending over N6bn on security for five years while in office.

The petition, obtained by Saturday PUNCH on Friday and signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Bello Illelah, asked the anti-graft commission to investigate the allegations.

The breakdown of the amount, according to the petition, indicated that N351, 806,000.00 was spent in January, N899, 900,000.00 in February, while in March, the sum of 2,040,876,500.00 was spent. It added that 738,200,000.00 was spent in April and in May, the sum of 2,150,441,730.00 was spent.

The petition read in part: “I am directed to lodge a petition on behalf of the state Government. On May 8 and May 18, 2015 respectively, two separate memorandum were originated by the Commissioner, Ministry for Local Government Affairs, Bauchi State, Hajiya Talatu Barwa, to the Executive Governor of Bauchi State, Dr. Isa Yuguda, for the release of the sum of N1,591,248,744.71 and N600,000,000.00 respectively, totaling N2,191,248,744.71.

“This amount was supposed to be used for the execution of projects in the areas of health, education, rural development and security. The projects were said to cut across all 20 local government areas having direct bearing to the lives of the people in various communities in the state. “The sums were spent as security vote requirements in May, 2015 without executing any health, education and rural development related projects.

“The sum of N1,591,248,744.71 was to be released from the Local Government Joint Account No. 5030025116, at Fidelity Bank Plc, to the Accountant General through the Excess Crude Oil Account No. 1243224012 operated at First City Monument Bank (FCMB).

Source: Punch