By Lola Seriki-Idahosa, Kaduna
Tracereporters –A group under the auspices of Kaduna Citizens Watch for Good Governance (KCWGG) said it has taken petitions to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) against the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai and his cohorts over alleged N423 billion fraud.
The Kaduna State House of Assembly Ad-hoc report on sourcing and usage of domestic loans from 29th May 2015 to 29th May 2003 had indicted El-rufai and some members of his cabinet following a probe committee that investigated the 8-year administration of the former governor.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Chairman of KCWGG,
Comrade Victor Duniya said the petitions requested for immediate investigations, arrests, and prosecutions of El-rufai and his appointees that were involved in alleged mismanagement, siphoning, and some illegal financial and administrative activities while governed the State for eight years.
However, reacting to questions by newsmen on El-rufai’s recent lawsuit against the State House of Assembly at the Federal High Court, Kaduna, claiming N1billion damages over the probe committee report, Comrade Duniya said, “It is just a delay tactic because justice delayed is justice denied. But we will continue to voice out our protest to ensure that justice is not only done but seen to be done. It is unfortunate that El-rufai that never obeyed Court order as governor, he is now running to the same court to seek protection”.
According to Comrade Duniya, “Yesterday, the 2nd of July 2024, we officially lodged petitions at the headquarters of the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the zonal office of Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Kaduna against the former governor of Kaduna state Mal. Nasir Ahmad El-rufai and many members of his administration that the Kaduna State House of Assembly Ad-hoc report on sourcing and usage of domestic loans from 29th May 2015 to 29th May 2003 indicted.
“Our petitions requested for immediate investigations, arrests, and prosecutions of Mal. El-rufai and his appointees that were involved in mismanagement, siphoning, and many illegal financial and administrative activities contained in the report.
“Holding the former governor and those that spilled the treasury and shortchanged people’s interest accountable will deter other elected and appointed public officials from mindless looting of public treasury with impunity.
“We have absolute confidence in the capacity and determination of the anti-graft agencies in combating corruption in Nigeria”.
The same group had on June 20, 2024 protested in large number to Kaduna government House, asking governor Uba Sani to invite EFCC and other relevant security agencies to arrest and prosecute El-rufai over the indictment.
On March 30th, 2024, Governor Uba Sani revealed during a town hall meeting that the state faced a substantial debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities inherited from the previous administration which he said led to over 70% of the state’s allocation being used to service the inherited debt.
In response, the Kaduna State House of Assembly formed an ad-hoc committee to investigate the state’s financial transactions from May 29th, 2015 to May 29th, 2023. The committee, led by Barrister Henry Danjuma Magaji, submitted its findings on June 5th, 2024, revealing significant unaccounted funds and irregularities in financial transactions. The report highlighted mismanagement of funds, diversion of loans, overpayment of contractors, and lack of transparency in the usage of state funds.
Below is the petitions:
Prayers
Consequent to discoveries of the house committee that established irrefutable instances of maladministration, outright thief,withdrawals without purpose, payment of people who are not government functionaries,overpayment of companies,abandoning of sites, award of contracts to unqualified companies,deliberate refusal to adhere to rules; we call for further investigation and prosecution of these gross financial crimes perpetrated by the Chief executive of Kaduna state in cohort with his appointee in various ministries and agencies between 29th May 2015 to 29th May 2023.
Their lootings have placed the state on a financial tightrope-thereby incapacitating effective, productive , and robust performance of the successive government. Furthermore,their milking dry of the treasury has discouraged people from having faith in our democratic experiment. And actions that discourage people from believing in democracy are dangerous and worth tackling with immediate speed.
So, we call on your agency to quickly swing into action because people want accountability and justice without delay. The agency’s work has been made easy through the thorough, effective and transparent work of the ad-hoc committee of the KDSHA that was submitted and approved by the general house.
Mr.Vicotor Duniya
Leader
Lawal Muhammed
Secretary
KADUNA CITIZENS WATCH FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE
The Chairman
Economic And Financial Crime Commission Abuja
Nigeria
Through:
The Zonal Chairman
Economic And Financial Crimes Commission Kaduna
Nigeria
Sir,
REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION
Background
In its 159th sitting(Tuesday 16th April 2024),the Kaduna State House of Assembly(KDSHA) constituted an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate Loans, Financial Transactions, Contractual Liabilities and other Related
Matters of the Government of Kaduna State from 29th May, 2015 to 29th May, 2023. The committee was mandated to submit its Report to the entire house for further Legislative Consideration. The committee was made of 13 distinguished honourable members, 8 supporting secretariat and 4 supporting staffers (page 1 of the report).
The committee was given the following terms of reference:
1)To find out the Modalities of Acquiring/Obtaining the Internal and Externa Loans;
2)To carry out evaluation of all Projects to determine their status.
3)To conduct an in-depth Analysis of Appropriated Funds/Implementation;
4) To have a thorough examination of Legislative Approvals of securing Internal and External Loans.
5)To ascertain Liabilities/Outstanding incurred and other financial activities in the State.
6)To invite the following for Fact Findings:
(a). Rt. Hon. Speaker of the 8th Assembly(b). Rt. Hon. Speaker of the 9th Assembly(c). Managing Directors, KADRA from (2015 – till date).
(d). Hon. Commissioners, Ministry of Finance from (2019 – till date).
(e). Hon. Commissioners Ministry of Works and Infrastructure (2015 – till date) Page 5 of 175).
(f). Managing Directors, Market Development from (2015 – till date)
(g). Accountant-Generals, Kaduna State from (2015 – till date).
(h). The Senior Adviser-Counsellor to the Executive Governor of Kaduna State (2015-2023).
(i). And any other Head of MDA or persons considered necessary by the Committee(pages 4 and 5 of the report).
To achieve its goals as enunciated in pages 4 and 5 of the 175-page report, the committee adopted 6 broad methodologies: 1)Held series of Meetings at Committee level;2) Requested for the submission of Memos and Documents from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other stakeholders;3) Invited past and present Government Officials and Relevant Stakeholders;4) Carried out physical on-the-spot assessment and inspection of projects;5)Held an interactive session with Contractors and Consultants; and 6) Mapping of Sites(page 6 of the report).
Pages 6 to 12 laid out the timetable for appearances of former and present top five functionaries of interest as well as companies that executed contracts and provided services . Similarly, the speakers of the 8th and 9th assemblies appeared before the committee. In total sixty seven people and companies appeared in the span of 13 intensive sessions(pages 5 to 12 of the report). From the record, almost all appeared and offered their testimonies under oath. The only officer that didn’t appear was Ms Dolapo Popoola, the immediate past General Manager of KAPSCO (page 170 of the report).
Testimonies of the persons and companies that appeared and their major statements under oaths appeared on pages 12 to 75 of the ad-hoc committee of KDSHA. Their testimonies provided the committee with extensive information on various aspects of the loans and projects the domestic and foreign loans were meant to provide. Speakers of the 8th and 9th assemblies and their clerks gave a background to the most burning issue of approval and appropriations of the loans.
Discoveries
After painstakingly interviewed government functionaries of interest, some companies, scrutinized thousands of documents(including bank transactions), and visited sites of purported projects, the committee made surprising discoveries:
That almost all the domestic and foreign loans under investment were sourced without following constitutionally laid down procedures(110-117 of the report)
That the only loan acquired and used for the intended purpose was N1b domestic loan sourced for security reasons(Page 110 of the report)
That laid down financial procedures were violated by the ministry of finance under the leadership of the governor’s appointees.
That a person that was not a government official was given millions of Naira as imprest. And it is a known practice that only government functionaries can be given imprest.
That companies were paid without record of any contractual agreement or the purpose to which they were being paid.
That large sums of money have been withdrawn by appointed officials of the ministry of finance without stating reasons for such humongous withdrawals.
That loans sourced for some projects were illegally diverted to others without following due process. Yet, the projects to wish they said to have been diverted the money for, are not executed.
That contractors were paid without following processes of certifications as enunciated by the laws of the state. A clear case of corrupting the rules for personal aggrandizement.
That projects were abandoned despite full payments in tandem with the contractual agreements. The state is now a theatre of numerous and embarrassing ghost contract sites.
That the account of the state revenue generating agency was used as a collateral to personal loans acquired by some government functionaries from Zenith bank. And so far, N30b has been directly withdrawn by the bank from the agency’s account domiciled with the bank.
That the chief executive of the state (The Governor from 29th May 2015 to 29th May 2024) directed violations of monitoring procedures that were put in place to checkmate sharp practices by contractors.
That the chief executive’s actions and inactions (directly or indirectly)aided money laundering and colossal loss of revenue to the state.
That Projects were deliberately embarked upon despite warnings by experts of the ministries for example the wheat project.
That an officer refused to appear before the committee. And it was later discovered that the said officer ran away with government properties.
That the state was left with millions of foreign and billions of domestic loans. And most of the loans were not utilized in tandem with the aim to which they were acquired.
Prayers
Consequent to discoveries of the house committee that established irrefutable instances of maladministration, outright thief,withdrawals without purpose, payment of people who are not government functionaries,overpayment of companies,abandoning of sites, award of contracts to unqualified companies,deliberate refusal to adhere to rules; we call for further investigation and prosecution of these gross financial crimes perpetrated by the Chief executive of Kaduna state in cohort with his appointee in various ministries and agencies between 29th May 2015 to 29th May 2023.
Their lootings have placed the state on a financial tightrope-thereby incapacitating effective, productive , and robust performance of the successive government. Furthermore,their milking dry of the treasury has discouraged people from having faith in our democratic experiment. And actions that discourage people from believing in democracy are dangerous and worth tackling with immediate speed.
So, we call on your agency to quickly swing into action because people want accountability and justice without delay. The agency’s work has been made easy through the thorough, effective and transparent work of the ad-hoc committee of the KDSHA that was submitted and approved by the general house.
Mr.Vicotor Duniya
Leader
Lawal Muhammed
Secretary
