N400 Billion Theft: Dogara Insists Gov Abubakar Is Guilty

Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State was under more pressure on Friday after Speaker Yakubu Dogara rebuffed his denial of the theft of N400 billion from the state since he assumed office as governor.

Speaker Dogara said that further evidence of the theft had been uncovered with the discovery of 1,300 more ghost workers on the payroll of the state. He challenged the governor to take him to court even as he cautioned civil servants in the state not to join in tampering with the evidence against the governor.

It would be recalled that  before Governor Abubakar assumed office in May 2015,  former Governor Isa Yuguda had employed thousands of political appointees, about 4000, which increased the monthly wage bill of the state to N2.6 billion but on assuming office, Abubakar sacked them all. 

This should have automatically translated into drastic reduction of the monthly wage bill of Bauchi state since no new recruitment into the state civil service was carried out. 

However, the wage bill skyrocketed to about N7 billion excluding that of the 20 the local government areas.

In the same vein, thousands of ghost workers were also added into the payroll of all the 20 Local Government  Areas of the state which he (Governor Abubakar) uses to divert their monthly allocations that brings the total sum of money diverted within the period to N400 billion including three payments of Paris Club Refunds and two bailouts the state received from the federal government. 

This excludes the internally generated revenue of the state and LGAs which is not accounted for. 

While cautioning civil servants to be careful not to allow themselves to be used to doctor documents and alter records, Hon Dogara warned that they will surely be called to account for any such action sooner rather than later as there are credible reports which indicated that the governor is desperately working to doctor and alter documents and records  to cover up the monumental fraud and theft of public funds.

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG