Bauchi state governor, Senator Bala Mohammed has ordered the arrest and prosecution of his predecessors, Isa Yuguda and Mohammed Abubakar, for alleged diversion of government funds and assets worth over N1 trillion.
The governor gave the order, Tuesday after receiving a report of the state’s asset recovery committee he set up to probe the former governors and recover government funds and properties allegedly carted away by the officials of the past administrations.
He directed the state’s attorney general to partner with the committee with a view to studying their recommendations and prosecuting the ex-governors indicted.
Earlier, chairman of the committee, General Markus Yake (rtd) while submitting the report told the governor that they probed all Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) between 2007 and 2019 when Yuguda and Abubakar served as governors of the state.
“As regards contracts awarded within the period under review, 19 MDAs submitted a total of 12, 249 contracts and services with a contract sum of N97, 190,881.30 to the committee.
“Seventy eight contract numbers and services from 6 MDAs with a total contract sum of N63, 840, 92,807.15, representing over 65 per cent of the total sum by the 19 MDAs were verified and analysed,” he noted.
According to him, properties and funds diverted were mostly from the Paris and London clubs refunds, ecological funds, Universal Basic Education Commission funds for State Universal Basic Education Board, internally generated funds, various loans taken by past administrations among others.
Yake said the committee also discovered 16 plots of land in Kaduna belonging to the Bauchi state government which amounts to N1.5 billion allegedly diverted by the past administrations, saying if urgent action was not taken to recover those plots of land, they would be encroached.
The chairman said the committee also recommended the immediate confiscation of a government property near Wikki Hotel Bauchi, which the former governor Mohammed Abubakar allegedly auctioned to himself without following due process.
